Back to the Future (1985)

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 116 Minutes

Main Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson, Claudia Wells, Marc McClure, Wendie Jo Sperber, George DiCenzo

Plot: A high school student named Marty is sent back in time 30 years after his friend and eccentric scientist Doc Brown invents a time-travel machine out of a DeLorean. He must be careful though – because his actions have consequences which could erase him and his family from existence.

My Thoughts: What a wild time to be alive. On Sunday evening, me and the bestie went out on our first cinema date since mid-March…to see a movie released 4 years before we were even born! Our local Odeon is still closed but we have a Showcase very close too which has been showing all sorts of older movies. Now, I kept this quiet until we were actually sat in our seats incase she disowned me…but I didn’t think I had ever seen Back to the Future until that night. There’s a good chance I did as a kid, didn’t we all? But I couldn’t remember any of it.

So let’s cut to the chase…I loved it. I’ve always loved time travel theory so it was never going to disappoint. I’d have maybe liked it to have delved deeper into the theory but I guess 1) this is a family movie and 2) there are sequels…so I can’t complain. How adorable is Michael J. Fox in this? If I’d watched it as a teen I definitely would have had a crush. You know what threw me though? If I closed my eyes when he was speaking…it’s Tom Holland! So weird.

Back to the Future is, at its heart, good, fun storytelling. It’s nothing too flashy, there aren’t any gimmicks, just loveable characters and a fantastic story. You just know that everything is going to be okay in the end, but it doesn’t stop the climactic scene where Doc desperately tries to fix the cables from making your heart pump fast. It was so cool to watch this for (possibly) the first time on the big screen. I can’t wait to see the sequels. Are they good?

Best Bit: It’s definitely toeing the line of being just plain creepy, but Marty going back 30 years and meeting his Mum who totally has the hots for him? It was a joke that never got old.

Worst Bit: Speaking of creepy…Biff! I mean, in family movies today you just wouldn’t be allowed to have a character like him. He was so, well, rapey!

Fun Trivia: The rights to the film and its sequels are owned by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. In a 2015 interview, Zemeckis maintained that no reboot or remake of the franchise would be authorized during his or Gale’s lifetime.

My Rating: 4 and a half orange bodywarmers floatation jackets.