Back to the future 2 did what sequels often fail to do: surpass the original. Pacier with a complex (not convoluted) plot, the stakes are raised and like a good sequel, ends on a great cliffhanger.

Helps that both part 2 and 3 were filmed on the same production block. Helps avoid many troubles sequels can dig themselves into.

Marty is a fallible protagonist and that’s why we like him. He made a mistake, like any teen would, and he spends the rest of the movie solving it. No moping about, no detour into maudlin prose. Both Marty and Doc Brown know what must be done and they get straight to it. It’s never an easy mission and the third act works wonders as both a commentary on time travel and how the best laid plans never come quite well. I still chuckle when I hear the term “oh la lá!”

Saw this on a big cinema with THX sound, so it was an audiovisual spectacle alright back in the day. I don’t recall my parents enjoying it as much as the first one, and I never quite knew why.

The third part they did like, though. I guess their love of westerns and a happy resolution was better. I do recall them hating Empire Strikes Back too, so downbeat sequels weren’t their thing, I suppose. The Universal Studios ride? They loved that one and I can’t recall how many times we rode it together, having a ball with Thomas F. Wilson’s scene-chewin’ his way throughout.

Alan Silvestri’s weaves a motif that clearly tugs the correct heartstrings, and the fact the whole “wrong version of the 80s” song is named “My Father!” tells you everything about this film. The PC game had this rather adaptation of the track for the nearly impossible 80s section of the videogame.

On a personal note, today would’ve been my dad’s 87 birthday. I haven’t stopped missing him since he passed away 6 years ago during the pandemic and it’s a strange coincidence to talk about this film on exactly this day. I guess I subconsciously wrote it in the dayplanner I have all these post ideas. He did love Silvestri’s music, though.

-Sam J. Valdés López