Review - Back to the Future (1985)

    Hey guys, Chuck here. Today, I'd like to throw things back with an 80's classic: Back to the Future. Produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, this 1985 sci-fi comedy was directed by Robert Zemeckis, and stars Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, and it's about a teenager who is flung back in time from the year 1985 to the year 1955. So, what happens when he gets there? Let's find out as we get into Back to the Future. 

    The movie opens with Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, who is an aspiring rock musician who spends his free time doing one of three things: practicing with his band The Pinheads, working on projects with scientist Dr. Emmett Brown, or Doc for short, played by Christopher Lloyd, or spending time with his girlfriend Jennifer, played by Claudia Wells. After a rough day at school, Marty heads to the parking lot of a local shopping mall, where Doc is about to test his newest invention: a time traveling DMC DeLorean. After a successful test of the car, Doc is shot and killed by Libyan nationalists that he screwed over in order to get the plutonium needed to power the car. Trying to escape from the Libyans, Marty drives in the DeLorean and, after the car hits 88 MPH (miles per hour), is flung back to the year 1955, where Marty has to find a way to get back to the year 1985. Unfortunately, Marty the teenage version saves his father George, played by Crispin Glover, from being hit by a car, and it's due to this that he meets the teenage version of his mother Lorraine, played by Lea Thompson. After a meal with Lorraine and her family, Marty finally gets to the home of Doc Brown of the year 1955, proving to him that his invention for time travel actually works. Using some info about a lightning strike on the court house's clock tower, Doc and Marty plan to channel the lightning bolt's energy into the Flux Capacitor, which can send Marty back to the future. Unfortunately, due to Marty getting hit by the car instead of George, Lorraine is attracted to Marty, causing a chain reaction that alters the future; Marty and his siblings are being erased from existence. 

    Marty then gets to work getting his parents to get together, but seemingly to no avail, as George is still a bit timid and Lorraine is still attracted to Marty. After a chase scene where Marty skateboards away from bully Biff Tannen, played by Thomas F. Wilson, Marty and Doc discuss plans to send Marty back to  1985. Unfortunately, Lorraine wants to go with Marty to the school dance. So, Marty make a plan to stage an assault, and George will come to the rescue, and after that, George and Lorraine will go on to get married and the future will be intact. Unfortunately, Biff and his goons arrive and drag Marty out of the car, and George eventually does come to Lorraine's rescue, but for real as Biff is committing an assault on Lorraine. George knocks out Biff with one punch, and George and Lorraine go to the dance together. Marty, after being rescued from the trunk of the car of the band Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, plays guitar with the band due to Marvin's hand being too badly cut to play guitar. After playing a couple of songs with the band, Marty heads off to return to his own time. After successfully getting back to 1985, Marty finds that Doc from 1985 survived, as he read the letter that he'd torn up before Marty went back to the future. Doc drops Marty off at home, and heads off thirty years into the future. The next morning, Marty sees some differences in his life, such as his siblings being top business workers, George being a successful novelist, and Biff being much more humble than before. Marty also happens to own a pickup truck. After reuniting with Jennifer, Doc arrives to get Marty to go back with him to the future, as something terrible is happening involving Marty and Jennifer's kids.

    Back to the Future is an all-time classic. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson were all terrific in this movie, and have become icons because of it. Director Robert Zemeckis did an excellent job with the film, and the film has become one of the signature Amblin franchises, as well as a staple franchise of Universal Pictures. Now, I was born years after this movie, and its sequels, saw an initial theatrical release, but on Wednesday October 21, 2015, I went to my local theater for a triple feature screening of all three Back to the Future movies, and of course I have the movies on Blu-ray. Back to the Future is a movie that I enjoy thoroughly, and I give it a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. Join me Saturday for my review of Independence Day.  

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