Search - Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy (+ Digital Copy) on DVD

If you don't like part II, read this...

William Sommerwerck | Renton, WA USA | 10/14/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an anticipatory place holder. I expect to purchase the Blu-ray on its day of issue, and will complete this review with information about the quality of the transfer and "extras". I'm hoping that the occasionally sloppy special effects will have been redone and made undetectable.

"Back to the Future" is one of the most-entertaining and satisfying movies ever made; few "Golden Age" movies are of such quality. (The Errol Flynn "Robin Hood" comes to mind.) It's therefore remarkable that Zemeckis and Gale had the guts to make part II such a dark and disturbing film. Most people don't like it -- and don't even "get" it -- so I'd like to briefly discuss what is arguably the best film of the series.

An essential element of drama is /choice/ -- a character has to make a decision that will affect him and/or others. In part II, Marty decides to use his time travelling to get rich. The consequences of this go beyond personal disaster -- his community and family are destroyed, and other people have their lives ruined. This plays out as a perverse inversion of "It's a Wonderful Life", as Marty sees what his selfish choice has lead to.

The plotting partly follows "The Hero's Journey" -- the monomyth that appears, in various forms, in many cultures. Marty has to go through figurative Hell to set things right and redeem himself, coming back a better person. The next time you watch part II, think of it as the dark middle act of a three-act play -- which it is."