Movie Review: Back to the Future (First Time Ever Watching)
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There are several classic movies that I’ve never got around to watching. I would very much like to change that, so one by one I am crossing them off my list. Recently, I watched the 1980s classic Back to the Future for the first time. I’ve heard all about it throughout my life, with nothing but good things said. And the reviews on all the movie sites have it ranked very high. So, of course my expectations were high going into it.
Universal
I don’t need to spend much time giving background on the movie since most of everyone has already seen it at least once in their lives. But the 1985 science fiction movie revolves around Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) who accidentally travels back in time with the help of his eccentric scientist friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Traveling back 30 years in the famous DeLorean, Marty finds himself in the year 1955 in his hometown. The problem is he must find a way to get back to his teenaged-life in 1985.
The only one smart enough to get Marty back to the future is Doc, who did not travel back in time with Marty. So, Marty must find Doc in 1955, who is 30 years younger and knew nothing about creating time travel at that point, and the two must work together to get back to 1985. The other main storyline is doing everything to not change the past, especially with events between his teenaged mom and dad in order to not alter the future…and even more specifically, ensure the existence of Marty himself in the future.
Universal
With high expectations, I watched the movie and wasn’t disappointed. Some movies stand the test of time and some do not, however, this one always will. It was released in 1985 and definitely has that 80’s feel to it. Just within the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, everything is so 1980’s that it hurts. But that isn’t a bad thing at all. And though this movie has that 1980s-feel pouring out of it, it will always stand the test of time because of the storyline. Time travel has always been, and always will be, an interesting subject. This movie presents time travel in a fun and interesting way, with a capturing story behind it.
With this type of movie, I knew that Marty would make it back to the future by the end, even though I had never seen it. You could just feel it would happen throughout the entire story. But even though this was the case, it still invoked many curiosities as to how the story would end. The entire time Marty was stuck in 1955, he was trying to not change the future by making sure his teenaged parents met, were interested in each other, and went to the high school dance together where they would fall in love and eventually get married. With the way the story was unfolding, I didn’t know what was going to happen between his young parents and how the future could be different, or perhaps exactly the same. So while ultimately you could tell he would get back to his 1985 life, there were a lot of uncertainties that keep you very interested to watch until the end.
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The characters were great in their roles as well. Michael J. Fox just screams 1980’s, and he plays the main character perfectly by giving him the ultimate “1980s-cool” persona. Then the Doc is given a very eccentric personality, which is very fascinating and humorous to the viewers. And even the 1955 characters including his parents and the infamous Biff all gave great performances and added to the movie’s appeal. Just as Marty was the perfect high school “1980s-cool” teenager, Biff was the perfect 1980’s high school villain.
This movie is a must-watch for everyone. It is highly ranked by every movie list for a reason. And like I said, it will certainly stand the test of time and be just as popular in 30 years from now as it has always been. I’m glad that I can finally check it off of my list and now I am very eager to watch Back to the Future 2 and 3. I don’t expect them to match the first one, but I’m also expecting them to be good in their own rights. Let me know in the comments how you think the second and third movies compare to the first one!
Rating: 4.5/5
Garett