Red Dead Delorean

And here we are, the final film of the Back To The Future Trilogy. Let us see if it holds up, shall we?

Back To The Future, Part 3

This one is set in the Wild West of 1885. Marty travels back in time at the behest of Doc Brown, who is now ensconced in that era – AND IS DUE TO BE HANGED!!! Can Marty save him? Only time will tell.

As mentioned yesterday, this was filmed at pretty much the same time as part two (filming didn’t crossover, bar for one scene, rather took place immediately after part two had finished). And it shows, as there are many little crossover moments between the two; in addition to the running gags throughout the series (including a nifty little catchphrase flip that raises a chuckle from any fan of the series). And, once again, Doc Brown has the best character introduction in the entire film, dressed up in his best John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn gear.

Not only does the film work as part of the BttF series, but it’s also a very obvious loving tribute to the westerns that the writers no doubt grew up with. Every aspect of Hill Valley, 1885 can trace its routes back to any number of western movies or TV shows. But they are not presented with any sort of world weariness – nothing of it feels like it was put in because “it’s a western and you have to have that, so here you go, now shut up”. It’s all done with an overwhelming sense of love of the genre. In fact, in my research, I found that Robert Zemeckis even cast a bunch of his favourite western character actors to help populate the town.

I have to say, that I find this film to be the most fun of the three, what with Indian chases, shootouts, a bear AND even a flying train? How can you watch this film without a smile on your face – you can’t, that’s how. Even Michael J Fox’s tragic Oirish accent can’t do anything to dull the fun. And, while there are a few very minor moments of WSD (the smoking whiskey, moonwalking and a few other little bits), but none of it feels forced or pushed in your face like more annoying WSD.

I just have to take a small moment to talk about the music in this one. While still using Alan Silvestri’s instantly recognisable score as the base, the soundtrack has been given a more Wild West feel (more upbeat brass, Indian style drumming, fiddles, etc) which just adds to the sense of fun that this film has. And, now that I think about it, I think that is why I find part two the weakest, as outside of the first 10 or so minutes of the 2015 segment, it doesn’t have that same sense of fun that parts 1 and 3 have.

As is to be expected by now, the central players (both main and support) all play different era versions of themselves, in various degrees of difference to each variant. However, all the credit in the world has to go to Tom Wilson, who has always been over the top great as various members of the Tannen family. But, this time, as Mad Dog Tannen, he plays the entire family distilled down to their most rotten best and would not be out of place in any western film – but still manages to be just as funny as always.

By now, the chemistry between Lloyd and Fox – hell, all the major players - is as sharp and natural as it has ever been (it has been believable since the beginning of the first film, but it has jumped up several notches by now), so introducing a new character to the mix was a risk that may have backfired. Thankfully, Mary Steenbergen has the same sort of charm as Michael J Fox, so her portrayal as Clara (Doc’s new paramour) brings nothing but positives to the film, which is a damn good thing.

Out of the three films, I find that this one has the most timeless quality (pun very intended), simply because it is set in an era that is so far in the past.

Let’s talk overall, shall we? While I have made my opinions on all three individual films known, I gotta say – when taken all together as a single entity, Back To The Future remains one of the best (and most fun) movie series created in my lifetime. A very likeable cast who have fun with a just as fun premise make for a great movie watching experience, that on the whole holds up just as well now as it did in the 80’s and early 90’s.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butterfly Effect

Yesterday, I reviewed BttF Part 1, and today, I continue the trilogy....

Back To The Future, Part 2

Coming 4 years after part 1 (these being the days when a sequel wasn’t pumped out once a year except when planned that way) and filmed back to back with the final part of the series, BttF2 picks up immediately where part one left off. Almost, as the final scene of part one has been reshot to reflect the casting change of Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer (Claudia Wells had left acting for personal reasons by the time this was being filmed, and was replaced by Elizabeth Shue).

At Doc’s behest, the couple come with him to the far off time of 2015 to drop some knowledge on their kids. Through a comedy of errors, Biff ends up stealing a sports almanac and the Delorean, heading back to 1955 with both and using the almanac to alter time in his favour, thus screwing with the 1985 that Marty knows and loves, putting Biff in charge of a typical lawless society. It’s up to Marty to travel back to 1955 to retrieve the almanac.

I’ll be honest right from the get go – I have always thought part two was far and away the weakest and most boring part of the Back To The Future trilogy. Sure, it’s a decent enough film, but pressed between the first and third, it’s full of cheese and is surprisingly dull. Particularly in the future, as once you get past the “lol, current things are continuing in the future” sight gag, you are left with the same cheesy view of what the future will be like as we have had in film and TV for decade – stupid clothes, robot shoes, flying cars all over the place, even more pointless TV channels and ridiculous ideas of misplaced nostalgia. Nowhere is this more driven home harder than in the Cafe 80s scene, in which Marty finds himself in an 80s themed diner so ridiculous that every other theme restaurant rolls its eyes – the waiters are modelled after various 80s luminaries, but they’re weird fucked up Max Headroom versions, because that’s how the 80s were. Including a Ronnie Reagan who gets interrupted by an Ayatollah Khomeini – WSD!

It’s stuff like that that really, really dates a film – even if the references are being used in a nostalgia-fuelled way, you pile too many on, and it just comes off as “Hey! People will remember all things that you do in the future”, and just ends up making the whole effort look as dated as giant shoulderpads and Dallas. I know that the film was made two decades ago, but the closer that we get to 2015, with no real chance of the technology shown being used remotely as portrayed in the film, it just gives an extra eyeroll and makes one think, “what the hell were they thinking, really?”

The worst part of the future segment, though, is the insistence that the cast play their future versions, which leads to a bunch of stupid split screen tomfoolery (which I have never been a fan of, even in the rare times it’s pulled off somewhat well – I will admit that, for the most part, it is handled well here, but it is still needlessly cornball). And the fact that the future McFly family at home scene takes up such a large chunk of the film (and just plays like one of those The House Of Tomorrow shorts that Disney pumped out in the 50s) just grinds everything to such a screaming halt that no matter how hard the film tries, it can’t get out of the stall it’s in.

Once the almanac storyline comes into play, the film starts to move like it’s in molasses. It tries to get something of a plot happening, but it’s a really slow and dull chases scene that aims to put right what once went wrong, hoping that each leap would be the lea.....wait, no – that’s a different time traveller.

It’s not all bad news, though – the hoverboard chase in the 2015 segment is pretty boss and Michael J Fox is his usual likeable self, which can cover for some cheese, alas not nearly all of it. The effects are also pretty good for the time – as I said, the split screen effects, cheesy though they are, are well done, with next to no stitch-lines being seen (it’s not 100%, but it’s better than most). I do like the fact that the concept of time travel is actually explored with what looks like some degree of scientific accuracy, at least according to Carl Sagan (and I will not second guess him on science).

When all is said and done, part two tried to do too much, and ended up tripping over itself and dating itself. Between the future of 2015, alternate 1985 and a return to 1955, the film both fills itself with too much while simultaneously not doing enough with what it does have and ends up relying on a story that can’t really hold itself up.

It’s really not a bad premise, if you think about it, and one that I feel could have worked as its own entity – however, as I stated, being situated between parts one and three just serve to highlight what doesn’t work about it. Back To The Future Part 2 holds up as part of the overall trilogy, but not as a film in its own right.

Join me tomorrow for the conclusion of Does Back To The Future Hold Up, when I cast an eye over Back To The Future Part 3.

Say, Do You Like Huey Lewis?

So, last week, I put out a call to see what the people would like me to review, and I only had one response, which I will do my very best to do. Alex, over there at Jaded Hope, requested that I do the 80’s classic – Back To The Future (and yes, it is a film that he will be doing as well, in his own inimitable style). I’ll go him one better, and do the whole trilogy. And that will be what I cover for the next three days.

And, as requested by Alex, I’ll be reviewing them much in the style of The Gr80s Podcast, seeing how they stand up these days.

We all know the plot of the films, so I won’t go too deep into them. In a nutshell, Marty McFly (Michael J Fox, or in a parallel dimension, Eric Stoltz), with the help of the always awesome Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown, use the third greatest time machine ever to travel to the past, the present, the future, the present again, the past again, the present once more, the wild west and the present – in that order. Adventure, romance and hilarity ensue. But do they hold up? We shall see.

First off, the film that started it all.

Back To The Future

As you know from an earlier entry in this thing, I have a soft spot for time travel films (we know my favourite style, but they are all great – I can trace the reasoning for this back to my long standing fandom of Doctor Who). And, let’s face it, when you talk to anyone over about the age of 22, and ask them to say a time travel film, there is a very good chance that the first one they say will be Back To The Future.

Long story short – Marty McFly travels back in time to 1955 and accidentally has his (not yet) mother fall in love with him. He then has to get her and his soon to be father together so he doesn’t disappear into whatever æther people go to in such occurrences. Can he do it? Well, since there were three films made in the series, it’s a pretty safe bet that – yes, yes he can.

This is a film that has some great iconic imagery, especially to someone who came of age in the 80’s. The Clocktower (and I geeked out years ago when I got a chance to see the Hill Valley set when I visited Universal Studios), Marty at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance, the flaming tire marks of the Delorean, “Hello! McFly!”, “Where we’re going, we won’t need roads!” – all are worthy additions to any film fan’s highlight reel. To me, the introduction of Doc Brown and the Delorean is one of the coolest character introductions that I have seen in any film, and I stand by that to this day.

Overall, I have to say that this film actually holds up pretty well, as outside of the use of dates, there is only really a couple of things in the film that truly tie it to the 80’s. Firstly, the Delorean itself, with its metal finish and crazy winged doors, the Delorean was as 80’s as the Rubiks Cube, feathered hair or *insert third 80s reference here*.  However, what saves it from dating the movie is the fact, that even by 1985, the Delorean was already being consigned to relics of history – hell, even Marty is astounded that the car was put to good use: “Let me get this straight, you made a time machine? Out of a Delorean?” The other, a reference to Ronald Reagan being President in the 80s – thankfully, the joke that comes after that about other 50’s actors being members of his cabinet help to temper the dating.

There are only two things, to me that stand out as being obviously bad. The first (and I remember rolling my eyes at the quality even then) is Lea Thompson’s makeup job as “modern day” Lorraine; it’s not that it is shoddy or laughably bad, it’s just that Lea Thompson is so recognisable to any fan of 80s movies, that seeing her look any way than what she is “supposed” to look like is a shock (plus, I maintain that she still looks like a rubber potato). And the other, the scene where the flaming tire marks from the Delorean shoot between Doc and Marty’s feet is a fairly obvious computer drop in of the humans. And, for those to be the only things that don’t hold up on a film that is 26 years old is pretty damn good indeed.

It’s a fun story, with some cornball moments of WSD that add up to something that really wouldn’t be out of place as a film made today (not that I am endorsing a remake, mind you). About the only thing that would be different would be that I can’t think of an actor from the current crop who is half as likable and charming as Michael J Fox was back then. Plus, that sense of fun would be missing, as I can’t think of any films of the modern era that have that feel, which is a real shame.

All in all, I had as much fun watching Back To The Future as I ever had. Join me tomorrow when I see if Part Two holds up as well.