Back To The Future

Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson

Written by: Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

Released in 1985

A movie so far ahead of it’s time it’s funny! Back to the Future really encapsulates the best of the 1980s and makes a timeless film that even over twenty years later seems as fresh as it did then. It almost seems as if it were a period piece about a kid from the 80s rather than a film actually made in the 80s.

Starring Michael J. Fox as seventeen year old, skateboarding, rocking out wisemouth Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd as (what else?) zany eccentric scientist Doc Brown who created a time machine (out of a Delorean?) to use in his academic endeavors. Unfortunately the plutonium used in his experiments was stolen from some Libyan nationalists who come looking for it.

They shoot up Doc Brown and Marty McFly makes his escape by taking the time machine and accidentally activating it sending him back to 1955 – the year Doc Brown first theorized about a time machine.

After inadvertently messing up his parent’s meeting and subsequent falling in love, he finds 1955 Doc Brown and they work on a plan to get Marty back to 1985 since Marty didn’t have time to pack the plutonium.

The rest of the film is a mixture between comedy and adventure, leaning heavily on wink-wink moments, irony, and great comedic timing. The pace is brisk, the characters are engaging and funny and the story is brilliant.

Crispin Glover is excellent as goofy George McFly whom Marty has to convince to go after Lorraine (his destined wife.) One particularly funny sequence involves Marty dressing in his radiation suit, coming to George in his sleep and claiming to be Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan and putting headphones on poor George blasting Edward Van Halen all in an attempt to persuade George to do as he’s told and ask Lorraine out.

Also very humorous is Thomas F. Wilson’s Biff. He is great in both generations, playing the wiseass older Biff in 1985 and again the young, neanderthal Biff of 1955. “Why don’t you make like a tree…and get out of here!” Indeed.

But it really is the two leads that shine. Michael J. Fox’s defining role despite many considering it to be Alex P. Keaton. Fox’s mixture of comic timing and bright eyed optimism serves the role perfectly. And likewise only Christopher Lloyd could handle the character of Doc Brown with just enough insanity, zaniness, and brilliance.

Being a time travel story, you can always point out possible inconsistencies in the story but it really is useless to get into those because in a film this good, they just don’t matter. The storylines can explain them well enough that you can simply sit back and be entertained.

The details put into the film are spectacular as most of the backgrounds are worth watching, and the recreated set pieces are well de-aged.

The score also fits the mood to a “T”, with some great suspenseful motifs as well as some fun adventure.

Overall it is a brilliant film from start to finish. Sometimes you can just tell an idea that was universally loved from the idea stage all the way through the closing credits and is a labor of love. This is one of those films.

A

“You made a time machine…out of a Delorean?”