Time-Traveling Trilogy: Part III

Back to the Future: Part III is my favorite of the trilogy.  Westerns are one of my favorite genres, and the fact that a Western is used as a storytelling device in a time-travel movie always excited me.  On rare occasions the final chapter of a trilogy can be disappointing (I’m looking at you, Iron Man 3), but Back to the Future: Part III is exactly the opposite.

Back to the Future: Part III is the final chapter of the trilogy, and now Marty must travel even further into the past so he can rescue Doc Brown from Biff’s great-grandfather Buford.  The fact that Marty uses Doc Brown’s 1955 counterpart to travel back to 1885 is sheer genius.  If it had not been for Biff, Marty would have never gone to 1955 in the first place.  So let me get this straight….Biff is to blame for all of this?!  I would have knocked him out just like George McFly did.  The 4^th dimension is used brilliantly in the movie, such as the painting of the Indians and the cave holding the time machine.  The fact that Marty and Doc Brown have to use 1885 technology to get them back to the future (see what I did there?) is fantastic.  I mean, a train pushing the time machine up to 88 miles per hour??  Robert Zemeckis, you are a genius!!!!  We even see the construction of the Hill Valley clock tower.  After everything is said and done, including an homage to Clint Eastwood and his movies, Marty finally gets back where he belongs.  He arrives in Hilldale where we see him live in the future in Part II, and also avoids the crippling car accident that was referenced in that movie. 

Mary Steenburgen joins the cast as Clara Clayton.  She is fascinated by Doc Brown and all of his interests.    Clara and Doc Brown fall for each other immediately, which is quite romantic to watch.  Steenburgen is wonderful in the role, and she provides good levity in a movie that has some very tense situations.

The Back to the Future Trilogy just may be the greatest trilogy of all time.  It is exciting, adventurous and has some of the greatest characters in film history.  The fact that kids today are still watching these movies proves that Back to the Future truly is a phenomenon.

Time-Traveling Trilogy: Part II

The Back to the Future Trilogy were the first movies I ever purchased for myself.  The thing is, for the longest time I never knew there were two more movies.  I remember when I bought the trilogy that I was quite surprised to find this out.  I knew the original movie like the back of my hand, so I popped in the other two.  It took me a while to appreciate the sheer genius of Part II.  For a long time, I thought it was the weakest of the trilogy.  Nowadays, simply from a continuity standpoint alone, I think Back to the Future: Part II is nothing short of brilliant.

Back to the Future: Part II is the continuing story of Marty McFly and Doc Brown, who must now travel to the future AND the past to prevent disaster within the space-time continuum.  This movie literally picks up right where the original left off.  Marty and Jennifer travel with Doc Brown to the year 2015 to fix whatever problems their kids have started.  The only thing is….Biff sees the flying car.  It is funny sometimes how a character you never thought mattered much ends up mattering the most.  After fixing the problems his children have caused in the future, Marty and Doc Brown must now travel back to 1955….again….to fix the problems Biff has started.  Okay, now everybody remember how at the end of the first movie Marty watched himself go back in time?  Well, now THAT Marty McFly is on stage playing the guitar while the ACTUAL Marty McFly is watching him!  Make sense?  Good.  I have to say that this scene is wonderful to watch.  The visual effects alone are worth the price of admission.  The end of the movie has one of the best cliffhangers ever, so you cannot wait to see final chapter.

While Back to the Future: Part II is still not my favorite of the bunch, I still enjoy it very much.  In a three-part story, the middle chapter is usually the part where bad things end up happening to the characters, and this movie does so in such a fantastic fashion.  Back to the Future: Part II is grand, epic storytelling at its finest.

Time-Traveling Trilogy: Part I

Back to the Future is one of those movies that reminds you why 80’s movies are so much fun.  I will never forget the first time I saw it.  It is easily one of my favorite movies of all time.

Back to the Future is the story of Marty McFly, who travels back in time to save his own existence.  It is easily the greatest time-travel movie ever.  This movie perfectly shows that even the most minor actions in the past will affect the future (such as Twin Pines Mall becoming Lone Pine Mall because Marty crashed into one of the trees with the car).  History does indeed change in the movie, for better or worse. 

Michael J. Fox plays Marty McFly.  I have always liked the idea of an ordinary person being thrust into an extraordinary situation.  Marty is both afraid and fascinated by what he encounters, and Michael J. Fox really taps into that as an actor.  What I love so much about Back to the Future is how crucial Marty McFly is to the story.  As important as the year 1955 is, with his parents kissing at the dance and Doc Brown inventing the Flux Capacitor, none of that would have happened without Marty’s involvement.

Christopher Lloyd is one of my favorite actors.  I could watch him do anything.  In Back to the Future, he plays Dr. Emmett Brown.  I always liked that is evident that Marty and Doc Brown clearly have an existing friendship even though we do not see Doc Brown until almost 20 minutes into the movie.  Emmett Brown is thought of by the public as a mad scientist, except he is not mad at all.  He knows exactly what he is doing, even though he may be a little weird.  Christopher Lloyd plays this role perfectly with all his quirky body movements and facial expressions.  It is the performance of a lifetime in a long and storied career.

I have been a huge fan of director Robert Zemeckis my whole life.  When it comes to combining visual effects wizardry with characters you can connect with, nobody does it better than him.  Back to the Future is a perfect example of that.  1955 is recreated spectacularly.  Everything from the music, the clothing and even the gas prices at that time….it is all there.  You really feel like you are on this journey with the characters, which is why the climax of the movie is so wonderful both visually and emotionally.

Writing a time-travel movie can be excruciating, but Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale really knocked it out of the park because they made sure that everything from the past is connected with the future.  I would put Back to the Future on one of those “Movies To See Before You Die” lists.  It is one of the greatest movies of all time, no pun intended.