These days it is
common practice to film several sequels at once, but it was still a daring
decision when Back to the Future
utilized this method. This is one of many ways that the time-travel franchise
predicted the future. Back to the Future:
Part II was released in November of 1989, with the end of the film
containing a trailer for the third film set to be released in the summer of
1990. This was prior to the splitting of every final book in a series, before
trilogies were planned out without the success of the original release, and
when there were still few enough blockbuster franchises for these films to be
culturally significant. 30 years later and the dynamics of the industry have
drastically changed, but the influence of these films has stood the test of
time.
Every bit as
entertaining as I remember, Back to the
Future is a movie that I watched so often as a kid that I still know it
scene-for-scene. Even if it has been 20 years since I have watched it, this
time-traveling classic has a timeless feel. We all wanted to be Marty McFly
(Michael J. Fox), the skateboarding rock-‘n-roll rebel accidentally sent back
in time to the moment his mother and father met for the first time. When he
interferes with events between his future father and mother, George and Lorraine
The second film
dives even further into the idea of alternate timelines caused by time travel
when Doc. Brown (Christopher Lloyd) takes Marty to the future to save his own
kids. Bouncing between three time periods, this is easily the most ambitious of
the films in the franchise, and it may also be the most fun. This is also the
film which has brought the most recent attention back to the franchise in time
for the 30th anniversary, mostly because the day that they travel to
in the future just came up on our calendar. While we may not have hoverboards
or flying cars, it is definitely amusing to see what they imagined October 21,
2015 would look like in the 1980s.
After a
cliffhanger ending to Back to the Future: Part II, Doc Brown is sent 100 years
back in time to the old west and the third film deals with a completely
different type of time travel. There is a whole lot less jumping back and forth
in this entry, and it is more about finding the western parallels to the
structure established by the first two films. Certain elements must remain the
same for this to be a Back to the Future
film, and that includes the western equivalent of many familiar characters. While
this is not quite as engaging as it was the first two times, regardless of the
drastic change in setting, it is still an enjoyable piece of escapist art.
The films
themselves are timeless, but this is also a review of the Blu-ray release for
the 30th Anniversary. The biggest question looming over the package
is the need for another release, especially since the trilogy was already
released on Blu-ray for the 25th Anniversary. Much remains the same
between the two packages, though this new release has an additional disc of
all-new special features. The past release had no shortage of extras, with a
six-part documentary, 8 archival featurettes, behind-the-scenes footage, audio
commentaries, deleted scenes, interviews and more. This new release adds a
fourth disc to the package for even more extras, though they may not be
impressive enough to require an upgrade for fans already owning the 25th
Anniversary Edition.
The new disc
includes an all-new short film with Christopher Lloyd reprising the iconic
role, and also attempting to explain why the future in the film is so different
than our world today. Additional fun extras include a fake trailer for Jaws 19
and a commercial for Hoverboards, and there are also two episodes from the
animated series included. Extras with more heft include a 9-part retrospective
documentary and a featurette about the 2012 restoration of the iconic vehicle
used for time travel.
Entertainment Value:
9.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 8.5/10
Historical
Significance: 10/10
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