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| Release Date: | July 3rd, 1985 (US) |
| Runtime: | 111 minutes |
| Rated: | PG (US/UK) |
| Genres: | Comedy, Sci-Fi |
| Directed by: | Robert Zemeckis |
| Written by: | Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale |
| Starring: | Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson, Claudia Wells |
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 Every now and then a film comes along that will stay with you for the rest of your life. For some people it's Star Wars, for some it's Indiana Jones, and, as is my case, for some it's Back to the Future. A friend introduced me to this film when I was young and I will be forever grateful. I've seen it many times and to this day it excites me every time I watch it. As you can probably tell, this is going to be a pretty biased review, but I will try to be as impartial as I can.
The year is 1985 and Marty McFly (Fox) is your average teenager, having crazy parents (Thompson and Glover), crazy friends, and crazy dreams of being a rock star. His biggest problems are being in a band who no-one wants to listen to, and more importantly, borrowing his parents' car so he can go away with his girlfriend Jennifer (Wells). One urgent message from his best friend Doc (Lloyd) puts all of that on hold. Doc has invented a time machine, and after a test which raises serious questions about animal rights, Marty is accidentally thrown (or driven) 30 years into the past. This, as they say, is where the fun begins. On top of the task of returning to 1985, he is faced with trying to get the high school geek to hook up with the high school hottie, but this isn't a picnic because the geek and the hottie are his parents and his entire existence depends on it. And just to make things that much more difficult, the school bully Biff (Wilson) will do anything to get his girl, and that girl just so happens to be Marty's mother. Cue skateboards, inappropriateness, and a Chuck Berry song.
When you think about Back to the Future, the first things that come to mind are time travel and Michael J. Fox. But when filming started it wasn't Mr. Fox who was in front of the camera, but Eric Stoltz (Mask, Pulp Fiction). Thankfully, that didn't last long and Fox was brought in, surely making the end product much better because I can't imagine anyone else playing the role. Fox's light comedic touch was never bettered by anyone else during that era. In fact he manages to shine even when up against Christopher Lloyd's "crazy wild eyed scientist" Doc. A modern day Einstein (with a few more screws loose), he plays off of Fox brilliantly. It's sometimes hard to believe that everyone could keep a straight face long enough to finish a take, as he tears up every scene he's in with such energy and intensity.
This isn't a two man show though, and there is such a wealth of humorous and loveable characters, from Wilson's over-the-top bully Biff (there's no way he's 17 though) to Glover's cowardly but misunderstood geek, George. It's amazing the writers didn't use up every idea and character they could have ever written for this single film, which showcases that the real stars of the film are Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. They not only managed to create these characters but also were able to make them feel very real while placing them into a film about a subject as ludicrous as time travel. Their writing of the timeline is superb, from the telling of life in the fifties to keeping the actual science of their version of time travel simple enough for even children to understand. Between them they created a film that will stay in my heart forever.
Well, so much for being impartial. There is one quote I read about this film that I will always agree with and that's this: "If you don't like Back to the Future, it's difficult to believe that you like films at all." Amen to that.
To Be Continued... |
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