Back to the Future Trilogy (1985, 1989, and 1990)

Back to the Future Trilogy (1985,1989 and 1990)

The joys of being ill allow for more movie viewing opportunities. These 3 films were sitting on the PVR waiting for me when I got back from the holidays. Now having watched them, I am happy to finally review them. The first is iconic and by far the most remembered of the three. Nearly everyone born prior to 1985 has seen it. The other two, well memories get fuzzy and the people who have sat down to watch them drops off significantly. Which is a shame, because I really think Robert Zemeckis intended to tell the story as a trilogy.

The first film follows Marty Mcfly as he is thrust back in time to 1955. A wonderfully simplistic version of the world he is used to. Doomed to disappearing into nothingness if he doesn't set out to make things right like getting his parents together, working with his good friend Doc Brown, thwarting the bad guy, and getting back.... TO THE FUTURE.

It's a fun, simple film despite the laws of time travel they set out to establish. Easy to follow and the pacing is decent, it's no wonder why this film became a classic what with an original story and some decent effort put into it's execution.

The first film ends where the second one begins (albeit some minor casting differences) and we find our same hapless heros thrust in to the crazy futuristic future of 2015. That's right folks, in a mere 4 years we will all be using hover cars, using archaic computer systems, and watching tv in standard definition again. I'm looking most forward to the hoverboards personally.

Story-wise and film-wise, this is the weakest film of the 3. It feels discombobulated and the pacing is off. The story is rushed and all the "future" scenes feel off. It's like when they finished the first film, the premise of travelling to the future was cool, but then with the success warranting a second film, they thought, "Oh crap, we actually have to follow through with this...". So we have a jarring story about a book, that only serves to get us out of the future as soon as possible.

The one upside is that film serves to establish the premise of the 3rd film in the wild west. And like that we too segue into the third film, where once the story settles again, the audience can get their bearings, and appreciate story again. The 3rd film follows Marty as he endeavours to rescue Doc Brown from 1885, and we are treated to some quality film work again. Mary Steenburgen joins the cast as a romantic interest for Doc Brown and the "Biff" of this time period is "Mad Dog" and definitely the most inspired of the bullies of each era.

All in all they are good films. The first and 3rd are much better than the second, but such is the case with most middle films in trilogies. They were great original stories and created iconic characters we all know and love today. The may not have aged well (especially the second one) but they are still fun.

The good: Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson. All were great in their multitude of roles.

The bad: 2015. If it looks anything like it did in the second film, yikes....

Final Thoughts: If you haven't watched these films lately go out and rent em. Enjoy the time it takes you back to. Enjoy the ride.

Add to the vault? I would definitely add this trilogy to the vault. The Blue Ray special edition would be a fantastic trip through time every now and again. It may be a few years in between each viewing, but these films are like wonderful little time capsules and I would definitely re-watch them again and again.


So bear with me but here are the trailers for each installment of the series:

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3: