Back to the Future Trilogy- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Back to the Future Trilogy
Year: 1985-1990
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Country: US
Language: English 

Science Fiction films come and go, some remain revered classics while others are completely forgotten about. In the realm of Sci-Fi there are many sub genres: Post apocalypse, space, time travel etc. My favourite of these would be Time Travel movies. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, Duncan Jones' Source Code and Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness are great examples of time altering films, but when people normally think of this particular sub genre one trilogy comes to mind: Back To The Future.

In Part I (1985) a teenager named Marty Mcfly (Michael J.Fox) is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher LLoyd) there he must ensure his parents get together so he can get back to the future. In Part II  (1989) Marty is sent to 2015, where he must save his unborn son from serious jail-time, however plans don't go as...planned. In Part III Doc Brown is accidently sent to the Old West and Marty must go back to save him.

Overall this trilogy of films doesn't make much sense. There are an incredible amount of plot holes and time paradoxes that would likely destroy the entire Universe. For instance Back to the Future Part II is kind of pointless when you think about it. If Doc and McFly went to the future to save Marty's son and then went back to the past, wouldn't it undo everything they just did? If Doc chooses to stay in the West in Back to the Future Part III then how would Doc and Marty have met in 1985? Was Chuck Barry a pervert and a plagiarist? Back to the Future is more of an entertaining film than one to really think about, unless you want to end up like the head exploding dude from Scanners.

Part I is the greatest film of the trilogy. It has great energy yet remains an "innocent" Family film. It is well written and contains a great deal of humor, Zemeckis isn't afraid of being a little cheesy when he needs to be. Freudian themes run wild in this generation's version of It's a Wonderful Life. This is definitley the most sincere and heartfelt of all three.

Part II is perhaps the weakest film of the trilogy. It is poorly paced and relies too much of technology. The heart the original film had is replaced with a computer chip; it's display of futuristic modes of transportation (hover cars, hover boards etc.) really take away from great emotional depth. Zemeckis is very ambitious with this one, but the story drags on for far too long.

Part III is a healthy middle. It has a decent pace and its setting doesn't distract too much from the emotion of the story. Here there is humor, but both Marty and Doc have greatly matured. The character development throughout this film is great. A critique I and the late Roger Ebert have with the film is that the Western Marty and Doc go back to is a cliche movie Western. It would have been nice to see a more realistic western with realistic characters.

In conclusion, while the Back to the Future Trilogy has some flaws, it can definitely be watched and enjoyed in one sitting. Both Michael J.Fox and Christopher LLoyd are incredibly funny and charismatic, it is a treat to watch them perform. Part I is the only film I would recommend watching by itself. 3.5/5

Back to the Future Part I- Praise it! 4.5/5
Back to the Future Part II- Piss on it! 2/5
Back to the Future Part III- 3/5