Doubleback to the Past again

Rating: 5/10 (5 July 2009)

As much as I used to dislike Westerns, I actually put off the conclusion to the 'Back to the Future' trilogy a bit. Granted, 'III' is not a real western, but it did take place in the "old west," contained high-noon gunfights, saloons, cowboys, Indians, immigrants, sheriffs, the whole hoe-downs. More of a spoof of Clint Eastwood's older fare, including using his name as an alias, 'III' did, successfully bring back the series to the original roots: barely any time travel (in a time traveling movie), a much slower pace than 'II,' even a theme song – ZZ Top's 'Doubleback' which I grew to love as much as 'I's Huey Lewis & the News's 'Power of Love.' That being said, it really wasn't that great of a film, though not terrible by any means. Gone, still, is the heart and soul 'I' had. Doc Brown and Marty must "push" the DeLorean up to 88 MPH to, once again, get "back to the future." But wait, Doc has fallen in love for the first time, so conflict arises if he should use his head or heart at the same time Marty (still the "Dick Clark" eternal teenager) must stop freaking out when someone calls him "chicken." Sure, I know it's the teenager's time to grow up (mentally, that is, as he looks fully grown by now) but that "Nobody calls me chicken, or yella!" first introduced in 'II' gets old really fast. I strongly admired 'II's clever closing overlapping the finale of 'I' and 'II,' which to my recollection, hasn't even been done. Unfortunately, 'Part III' really dropped the ball with an incredibly unrealistic, overlong rescue scene on a train. Granted, we're dealing with fictional time-travel, but the perfectly aimed hover board was a bit overboard.