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Mark Llobrera

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Cover art forBack to the Future Part II

Back to the Future Part II

Year
1989
Watched
Jan 02, 2024
Rewatch?
Yes

This review may contain spoilers.

Making my way through the 4K disc set. I remember loving this installment as a kid—mostly because the self-lacing Nikes and hoverboard suggested a future that was cooler than the one we got. Watching it now, though—it relies a lot on overlaying the action on scenes from the (superior) first movie, a gimmick that feels tired now that the special effects aren’t as novel.

The conservative politics of this series continue to stand out to me: when they “return” to the alternate-timeline with Hill Valley rendered as a squalid, dangerous place, it’s connecting blackness to poverty, danger, and (when Marty mistakenly climbs into a house that is no longer his) a grotesque caricature of rage. The women in this one are even more of a sideshow, too—hi Elizabeth Shue! (Now go to sleep.)