BACK TO THE FUTURE
A film review by Chad Polenz
Copyright 1997 Chad Polenz
**** (out of 4 = excellent) 1985, PG, 116 minutes [1 hour, 56 minutes] [adventure/sci-fi] starring: Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly), Christopher Lloyd (Dr. Emmett Brown), Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines/McFly age 17, 47), Crispin Glover (George McFly age 17, 47), Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen age 17, 47), produced by Bob Gale, Neil Canton, written by Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, directed by Robert Zemeckis.
What makes "Back To The Future" such a gem is its ability to take elements of adventure, comedy, and sci-fi, mix them all together,and make for a wonderfully entertaining movie.
Michael J. Fox is perfect as Marty McFly, the typical teenager who skateboards, plays in a rock band, and has a girlfriend - your basic "cool guy." His home life is rather pathetic though; he has a nerd for a father (Glover), a drunk for a mother (Thompson), and two losers for siblings. His best friend is a strange scientist named Doc Brown, played brilliantly by Christopher Lloyd. We don't know how Marty and Doc hooked up, but it doesn't matter, we quickly become too caught up in the excitement to care.
Doc has invented a time machine out of a DeLorean, but to power it he must use plutonium which he ripped off from Lybian terrorists. But when the terrorists catch up with Doc and shoot him, Marty escapes by driving the car in a high speed chase and in the process ends up traveling back to the year 1955. And so the real adventure begins, as it is obvious Marty is stuck in the past and must somehow get back home.
The atmosphere of the film is very satirical of the 1950s with kids obsessed with sci-fi, 3-D movies, "The Honeymooners," all those big cars, crew cuts, and poodle skirts. When Marty finally finds younger Doc, not only must they figure out how to get him back to the future, but they also have to fix the error in history Marty accidentally caused by his travel.
Almost every single action and event here has a purpose and reason, that is, to solve the conflict. There is no excess dialogue or gratuitous comedy, you have to admire it for being so succinct. Another great thing is the use of suspense. We know there is a definite "deadline" of sorts, and whenever a plan goes awry we panic and wonder "how are they going to get out of this!?" Even in the climatic scene problems suddenly pop up and we're on the edge of our seat, biting our nails, but totally excited throughout.
"Back To The Future" is one of the greatest modern films. The adventure, the excitement, and the total creativity are all so original and so well assembled there is not one point in the movie where you would remotely lose interest or become skeptical. Movies that are this much fun with such innocence are really a unique phenomenon.
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