Favorite Science Fiction Film: Back to the Future

The next film I am going to cover is Back to the Future, which surprisingly or not really that surprisingly is an 80’s science fiction film full of cheese. And yet for a cheesy science fiction comedy it’s surprisingly smart, and dark.

My full list of favorite science fiction films,

The previous film I discussed,

Now why I say it’s dark, is because it erases a timeline and it’s played off as a good thing, and yet in the sequels, not so much. In the second film Biff Tannen does the same thing as Marty, and yet the movie shapes it as evil and bad. Now I am not saying that the two characters are even remotely the same, Biff Tannen is a deplorable character, with almost no redeemable characteristics. But that aside, both of them altered the timeline to benefit themselves, the only difference is that the character of Marty only did it because he unknowingly altered the past by just interacting with his parents. Yet the timeline he’s from, is still gone, and just because we don’t see the large scale effects doesn’t mean they haven’t happened.

However, and since films actually are, Marty traveling back in time and altering it was predetermined, and so his previous timeline was always going to fade from existence to be replaced by the one at the end of the movie. Though this is me just making a philosophical joke.

Also I probably should have said, there may be spoilers in my analysis of why I enjoy this film. But lets be fair, I like it because it’s a science fiction comedy that sort of just ignores any of the ramifications of time travel. It’s a wish fulfillment story. What if I could go back and make my life better? That’s really all it is. I could make fun of the way it ignores the science or I can just enjoy the ride.

And this is a fantastic ride. The writing is fantastic, the acting is fantastic, the script and editing are very tight. By that I mean no frame is wasted, no line of dialogue or character action is wasted. It’s something that I feel modern movies are lacking, well written scripts and tightly edited scenes. Now having said that, an Editor can fix movies, just look at Star Wars A New Hope, but they are not miracle workers, scripts have to be well written for a film to feel cohesive. Which, this film is very well written.

The special effects of this film are also fantastic, to the point that they are hardly noticeable, they are organic with the film. They feel like they belong in the world in which they are happening. Basically they don’t stick out like a sore thumb and break the suspension of disbelief when I watch the film.

This is one of those film a person could put on to enjoy  during a lazy Sunday. That is not a bad thing either. It means it’s a film that fits anyone’s mood if they are looking for a film to watch. I mean this is now a classic, and it was sort of a classic even when it came out, so a lot of people now whether or not they would enjoy it.

The other thing that I find funny is how this film sort of inspired Rick and Morty.

If you haven’t seen this film, I would highly recommend it, it’s worth the watch. And I can almost guarantee that it’s a film that after the first watch, it’s a film that people will want to watch again, and again.