From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:48:01 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: ChadPolenz@aol.com (Chad Polenz) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:27:17 GMT Organization: America Online Lines: 57 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mksbl$a3b@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: ChadPolenz@aol.com (Chad Polenz) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07717 Keywords: author=Polenz Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7108 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1318 BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II A film review by Chad Polenz Copyright 1997 Chad Polenz ***1/2 (out of 4 = very good) 1989, PG, 108 minutes [1 hour, 48 minutes] [adventure/sci-fi] starring: Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly age 17, 47, Marty McFly Jr., Marlene McFly), Christopher Lloyd (Dr. Emmett Brown), Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen age 17, 47, 77, Griff), Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines/McFly age 17, 47, 77), produced by Bob Gale, Neil Canton, written by Bob Gale, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Us critic-type people are always shaking our heads and telling everyone that movies aren't thrill rides, but I think that "Back To The Future II" is one of the few exceptions. If the original film had the spirit of the 1950s, then this has the spirit of the 80s: full of fights; chase scenes; cliff hangers; special effects; some detective work; and of course the vision of the high-tech future. The film picks up exactly where the first film left off, with Doc (Lloyd), Marty (Fox), and Jennifer (Elizabeth Shue) travelling 30 years into the future, because something bad is going to happen to Marty and Jennifer's kids. Doc tells Marty he must take his son's place at an incident that will cause a chain reaction if Marty McFly Jr. says yes to Griff (Wilson - in one of four different roles). Whoever said history tends to repeat itself wasn't joking, especially when it comes to the movies. Essentially the same chase scene that Marty endured in the 50s takes place again in the year 2015, but it's not as authentically exciting this time because it is so obviously a parody of itself. At the end of the situation Marty has changed the course of history for the better, and it seems like everything's copasetic right? Wrong. Since when do things go according to plan in the "Back To The Future" movies? There are so many minor conflicts and details that effect the plot and the direction of the story I won't even bother to list them all. Basically we get to see Marty as an old man, his house, his family, etc. We also go back to an alternate 1985, and then back again to 1955, with everything happening so fast the film never stops to catch a breath. The films' best aspect is the fact that it actually goes back to the first movie and shows a lot of the action that occurred from another angle. It's difficult to convey the sense of wild and zany fun without describing every little detail. The only thing sacrificed in this film is the suspense. Instead of a grand finale, we get lots of little victories. By the end everything is back to normal, but something happens that leads to yet another sequel, but it doesn't seem gratuitous. "Back To The Future Part II" is a really great adventure movie. It certainly has more originality than other films but it lacks a certain charm that was dominate throughout its predecessor. Visit Chad'z Movie Page @http://members.aol.com/ChadPolenz/index.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sat Jan 5 15:55:30 2002 From: Jerry Saravia Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Back to the Future Part II (1989) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2001 20:06:41 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 30609 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 275733 X-RT-TitleID: 1001538 X-RT-SourceID: 875 X-RT-AuthorID: 1314 X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4 Summary: r.a.m.r. #30609 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 89 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.Update.UU.SE!puffinus.its.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!surfnet.nl!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:2560 rec.arts.sf.reviews:188 BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989) Reviewed by Jerry Saravia RATING: 2 stars and a half It is often the middle parts of trilogies that are the darkest and most unsavory. "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" was a darker, more graphic adventure in the Indy trilogy. Also shrouded in gloom was "The Empire Strikes Back," the best "Star Wars" movie ever that had no ending. "Back to the Future Part II" has none of the sunny disposition or joy that the original "Back to the Future" possessed. It is more of a carnival of frenetic, action-packed, time-traveling sequences than a movie and about as straightforward as a David Lynch film. Originally titled "Paradox" and directed by Robert Zemeckis, "Back to the Future Part II" picks up exactly where the original ended. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is kissing his high-school sweetheart, Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue replacing Claudia Wells), when out of the blue arrives the crazed, wild-haired inventor Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in his time-travelling DeLorean. Brown has seen the future and it is not pretty, and warns Marty that there is a problem involving his future kids! And so they speed off into the year 2015 to the same picture-postcard town of Hill Valley. There are flying cars that leave from ramps, a theatre showing "Jaws 19," cafes that play Michael Jackson's "Beat It," hoverboards and so on (and plenty of advertising, including the Roger Rabbit doll from Zemeckis's own "Roger Rabbit" movie). Marty makes a mistake and buys a sports almanac that has scores from the years 1950 to 2000. And who else but good old Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), the bully from the original film, happens to be eavesdropping on Marty and Doc's conversations about rupturing the space time continuum and making money on predicting future game scores. Needless to say, after Marty's kids are saved from a ludicrously contrived mini-disaster, Marty and Doc head back to 1985 and find that it is a very different place. It turns out that Marty's house is not his own, his father, George, is dead, and the town is presided by a seething, evil billionaire none other than Biff himself who is married to Marty's mother! Yep, this is a cold, ugly world not unlike the alternate reality depicted in "It's A Wonderful Life." For those who have not seen "Part II," it would be unfair to reveal much more except that this is one of those rare sequels that manages to revisit the original film. It does so in clever ways and the paradoxes and breaks in space time continuum contribute to an ingenious if rather headache-inducing screenplay. You'll need a road map to keep track of all the characters and time lines, and even then it is still confusing. As much fun as it is to make sense of all the contradicting paradoxes in the film, "Back to the Future Part II" desperately lacks joy or at least some sense of human involvement that we should feel in an adventure of this kind. It is often amusing but also repetitive and hollow - we learn plenty about Marty's family but there is never any true insight into his character. The same can be said of Doc Brown, a scientist trying to make sense of the universe and alternate timelines they occupy but there is not a whisper of much else in him - he is simply mad but comically mad, in the Jim Carrey vein. The character of Marty's father, George (played by Jeffrey Wisseman, not Crispin Glover), is basically a cipher who floats around upside down (done on purpose presumably so we wouldn't notice that it isn't Glover). But what of his death in the alternate 1985 by the evil Biff? And what about Marty's mother, Lorraine (Lea Thompson), who in the alternate 1985 looks more haggard and drunk than in the 1985 that the original "Back to the Future" began with (I hope this is making sense). Yes, we learn about their possible futures but, again, they ring hollow at best. They are like Norman Rockwell caricatures from the 1950's that have been demonized by outside forces, namely Marty and Doc. The first time I saw this movie, I greeted it with groans as did the audience. Seeing it a couple of times since, "Back to the Future Part II" has an addictive mentality - director Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale keep your interest because you have no clue where their ideas will lead you and you want to keep revisiting to make some sense of the plot. It is a frenzied, hyperkinetic nightmare of a movie, an assault on our senses that places its paradoxes and mind-bending logic on overload. But the original "Back to the Future" was a human comedy of manners, a juxtaposition of the 1950's crossed with the value system of the 1980's. The point was that the relationships were at its center and provided the heart of its story. This sequel has the same characters but insists on engaging us with paradoxes not people. For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at http://moviething.com/members/movies/faust/JATMindex.shtml E-mail me with any questions, comments or general complaints at faustus_08520@yahoo.com or at Faust668@aol.com ========== X-RAMR-ID: 30609 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 275733 X-RT-TitleID: 1001538 X-RT-SourceID: 875 X-RT-AuthorID: 1314 X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4