Hardly a case of killing time.

Rating: 7/10 (27 December 2011)

If you've managed to keep up until now don't panic we're nearly there. We start with Marty still trapped in 1955 and Doc doomed in 1885, Jennifer is asleep on the porch in 1985 and let's just agree to ignore 2015 for now! After Marty discovers that Doc is to die in 7 days – but 70 years ago – so it's off to the past; from the past; to get everyone back to the future, which is the past to 2015 I'm dizzy, wait a sec.
In actuality this one is a little more straightforward than the previous two regardless of how I just made it look. Doc manages a romantic interlude with a local teacher played by Mary Steenburgen and Marty must once again deal with his various ancestors and those of Biff without impacting future events for his family.
Given that the story is less intricate than the previous films they really do drag out the middle section and build up to the climax in this film, probably 20 minutes longer than they should. But given the achievements of the first couple films in the trilogy I am willing to forgive them.
If viewed in isolation BttF 3 is by far the least of the three films, the plot is actually reasonably straightforward and just a couple of the nods to the previous/Future films a little forced, but when it all finally wraps up and Marty eventually makes it through that one day in 1985 one of the better trilogies of all time ceases. Definitely the best PG 13 trilogy this side of Toy Story, you really need to understand all the various time jumps, changes and consequences to understand just how creative it all is.
Like the Millennium Trilogy of the last couple of years while the individual films are all at least quite good and at best excellent the completed trilogy is somehow much greater than the sum of its parts.
Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. While BttF 3 is a little lacking by comparison it is still a pretty good film. Unfortunately you can't watch this and not compare At the risk of killing you with cheese the Back to the Future trilogy is one of the best film series of all time(s) between 1885 and 2015, and various spots in between.