17 year old Marty McFly got home early last night. 30 years early.
Rating: 10/10
Running Time: 328 minutes
UK Certificate: PG
On DVD
If ever there was a DVD box-set worth dipping into your piggy bank for, it's this one. Anyone who's not a fan of the 'Back to the Future' trilogy should be locked up for some sort of treason to entertainment.
Though the first movie is the only one which can be said to stand alone as a whole story, it's when the three of them are put together as one complete adventure that things really get pant-cackingly good. In fact, everyone should make a point of watching all three 'Back to the Future' movies in a back-to-back marathon at least once in their lives. Allow the occasional toilet break, of course, but no more than that.
Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd are the stars of the piece, playing the troublesome teen and madcap scientist who do their time-travelling in style, courtesy of a revamped DeLorean. Their adventures over the course of the three paradox-tastic movies take them from 1985, to 1955, back to 1985, on to 2015, 1985 again(!), 1955 again(!!) and the wild wild west of 1885 before returning home to 1985 in time for tea and a couple of Huey Lewis tracks. Phew!
It features almost certainly the only sequel ever in which a large chunk takes place within its own predecessor, and definitely the only threequel to feature Christopher Lloyd leaping around the outside of a moving train rescuing a damsel in distress. Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Elisabeth Shue, Billy Zane and the marvellous Thomas F. Wilson are among the other members of a fine supporting cast. And is that really Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers popping up as squeaking bad boy Douglas J. Needles? Yup, that's right – you see, something for everyone!
Go out, buy this collection, watch repeatedly and, when you're not watching, keep the three discs in a glass display case which only very special friends are invited round to see. Do it now. Right now. Right. Now.
Gary’s Reviews of the individual films in the trilogy:-
Back To The Future
Back To The Future Part II
Back To The Future Part III
It's Got: Huey Lewis and ZZ Top among the musical cameos. But its Marvin Berry and the Starlighters that really do it for me!
It Needs: To be watched over and over again.
DVD Extras Disc 1: The Making of, feature commentary with Robert Zemickis and co-writer Bob Gale, out-takes and deleted scenes, make-up tests, production archives, storyboards and theatrical trailer. Disc 2: behind-the-scenes featurette, Making the Trilogy Chapter 2, out-takes and deleted scenes, hover board test on-location, production archives, storyboards and theatrical trailer. Disc 3: Making the Trilogy chapter 3, out-takes and deleted scenes, ZZ Top Doubleback video, production archives, storyboards and theatrical trailer. DVD Extras Rating: 10/10
Summary
Original, exciting, entertaining and practically impossible to copy. The third film may be a tad weaker than the first two, but put together this is probably the finest movie trilogy ever. Yes, okay, I'll say it - it's better than 'Star Wars'.