One of the best trilogies in film history wraps up with its own unique flare

Rating: 9/10 (21 August 2014)

As a whole I absolutely adore the Back To The Future trilogy. It is easily one of my all time favourite series' of films. In watching them again recently, I was immediately struck with how well the series has aged in plot, characters and special effects but also how completely different each instalment of this series is. Usually with any series of films, they all have a common style and feel like Lord of The Rings or Star Wars and certainly Back To The Future seamlessly fits together but each and every one of them is as different as they possibly can be. Back To The Future 3 played on Zemeckis' love of old school Westerns (something I feel as well) and he does it nearly perfectly. If you step back and look at this movie and ignore the time travel aspect, it holds its own as a Western. You have the dusty Western town, the old tavern, gun fights, festivals, trains and robberies. It has everything and that makes it incredibly fun. Add in to the fact that you already are completely hooked on Marty and Doc's adventure and everything they've been through and this is one of the most fun times you can have watching a movie. They couldn't have wrapped this up much better than this.
Cleverly, each and every instalment of this series is fresh and they do that by keeping the main characters ever evolving. The difference between the Marty McFly of Back To The Future 1 and 2 was very evident and this time Marty is sort of more like he was in the first film. Christopher Lloyd's Doc is the one who gets the huge character development this time around. It doesn't matter how you shake it, Michael J. Fox and Christopher LLoyd are flat out amazing in their respective roles and they have amazing chemistry opposite each other. Lloyd's Doc Brown is significantly less zany and eccentric and more controlled and gets to fall in love and he's the level headed one this time around. He is by far more heroic in this sequel and we, as fans, welcome that!! Mary Steenburgen joins the cast as Lloyd's love interest and she is terrific. She is just a tad bit cheesy and sort of southern school ma'arm type and it works perfect. She has terrific chemistry with Lloyd and the only downside is we don't get to see more from her. She is a welcomed addition to the cast. Thomas F. Wilson proves his villainous versatility yet again playing "Mad Dog" Tannen, the crazy wild west killer and does it perfectly. He even gets to play it more seriously than his previous Biff incarnations. Lea Thompson is one again reduced but this time is just barely a cameo in the movie which is a little unfortunate since she was so good in the first film. Elisabeth Shue is also barely a blip on the casting list as Marty's girlfriend back in 1985.
Nothing touches the first film. That movie is one of the best ever made period. However, Robert Zemeckis took that idea and went crazy with it in all the best ways and created two bizarre, out there, insanely fun sequels that are as different from the first as they are from each other. I could never tell you my favourite parts of "Back To The Future without listing a half dozen scenes from the second film and from this one. "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?" Pie plate Frisbee, the incredible climactic train scene at the end which easily rivals any of the best scenes of this trilogy or of any modern day blockbuster. Each and every time I watch it I am literally on the edge of my seat watching it. Its fantastic and Zemeckis proves why he is one of the best directors out there. No matter which instalment is your favourite you have to pay respect to how terrific they all are and you have to watch them as one giant epic and this one was as good as ever this time around. I look forward to watching my favourite trilogy again soon!! 9/10