This sequel is sillier than the first film and not as enjoyable, for various reasons:
• There are fewer laughs.
• Without the romance, some of the warmth is missing.
• The plot is more complicated, with events building up in parallel in different chronologies and talk of time paradoxes. It would make little sense if you hadn’t seen the 1985 original.
• Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen isn’t really charismatic enough to be fleshed-out from local bully to major villain.
• The “darker” moments feel misjudged, such as when we see Marty’s mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) reduced to a hopeless, broken alcoholic.
• The make-up used to age characters looks horrible.
• The future they visit (2015) is sketchy at best and we learn little beyond the facts that Jaws 19 is now showing in cinemas and that cars and skateboards can fly.
• Musically, there’s nothing in the soundtrack as punchy as “The Power of Love”.
All that said, there are many good things about Part II. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reprise their roles effectively and the film is at its best when the pair are in scenes together and able to play off each other. There are some nice jokes based on our knowledge of the previous film. And once again, there are some extremely clever twists.
Weirdly, Marty’s girlfriend is replaced by a different actor: Elisabeth Shue plays Jennifer instead of Claudia Wells. Weirder still, Crispin Glover is barely present as George McFly owing to a dispute over what he was paid. Given that this film recreates entire scenes from the first film – many of the key events are seen again, from different angles – building in his absence must have been even more challenging. For example, you see the Enchantment Under the Sea Ball from a different perspective, painstakingly re-enacted amid the new scenes, with George played by a not-quite-in-focus stand-in.
It ends with previews of Part III, which looks as if it will be even more ridiculous. Looking forward to seeing that.
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