Riot’s Retros: Back to the Future
Welcome to Riot’s Retros! In case y’all didn’t catch it on my Instagram account, I thought it would be fun to do reviews on classic films I’ve never seen before. At the end, I’ll give a rating like I usually do, but for the sake of this new style, I’ll be breaking these “retro” movies down by three categories: 1) Did I enjoy the movie and why? 2) Does it hold up today? However many years later. 3) Is it a quality movie on its own merit?
A thousand thanks for everyone who voted! I’m looking forward to the next survey’s results! Let’s dive in!
Did ol’ Riot enjoy Back to the Future? Unlike previous experiences like when I watched The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I’m happy to report that I had a blast watching this film. I was hit with a nearly unstoppable wave of nostalgia and enjoyed seeing all the throwbacks to what society was like in the before times. Watching Marty (Michael J. Fox) struggle to drag a landline phone cable around Doc’s workshop has a sort of extra charm to it, rather than the unencumbered method by which we communicate by phone today. “Charming” I think would be my favorite way to describe this film outside of “Nostalgic” and “Funny.” Almost all of my notes included some notation about laughing, a direct response to the natural, unforced humor and quirkiness of the film and its characters. I honestly forgot just how much of my childhood (Homeward Bound) and teenage (Atlantis and Spin City) cinematic memories are linked to Fox. He really was a special acting talent. Also, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie with Christopher Lloyd that I haven’t enjoyed. Time travel as a general subject can get easily lost in the weeds, often turning into a convoluted and confusing mess. Back to the Future keeps its story simple and pretty grounded, focusing its efforts into charm and humor rather than an overly complex series of rules. I enjoyed it very much.
Does it hold up? In ways that are most important, I would say yes. In the span of 40 years, technology and social constructs have drastically changed. (I’m curious if there even still is a functioning DeLorean.) So in that sense, I would venture a guess that the younger generations might be too far removed from what that life was like in 1985 to fully understand. But like I said, the story keeps things simple and time travel as a subject I think is universal (and may always be until the unlikely day it’s actually invented). Back to the Future presents the problem and then lays out the story as the solution. It portrays a kid, that is a bit of a screw up, shouldering an unexpected responsibility and growing through conflict. It’s an excellent, Sci-Fi take on the “call to adventure,” complete with his very own white-haired wizard. The facial prosthetics of the 80’s were extremely rough compared to today’s advancements, and the closing scene of the flying DeLorean really dated the movie. But the effects for the car’s time jumps still looked pretty incredible and (maybe predictably) I loved the streaks of flames from the tires. Even the DeLorean's initial reveal was a pretty marvelous thing to watch.
Do I think it’s a quality movie? Again, in most ways I would say yes. I had nitpicky issues, mainly that there are a few scenes that run a little longer than they needed to. Biff and his gang chasing down Marty, the guitar performance at the school dance, and the final conflict of Doc trying to get Marty back to his timeline could have been tightened up a bit. But I really don’t think it hurt the film all that much. For an hour and fifty-six minute movie, it didn’t feel like it. There are a lot of unanswered questions about how a seventeen year old high schooler gets involved in the world of an elderly, mad scientist, but this is the kind of film that makes it easy to suspend disbelief. The film has a little bit of an issue with overacting, but there’s a strong chance that was intentional. Biff is a bit too much of a bully. George is a bit too awkward. Marty is a bit too exasperated. Doc is a bit too eccentric. And Lorraine is way too thirsty (lol). Don’t get me wrong on this point, I still enjoyed it all, especially the irredeemable villain that Biff is. I just think the dial was turned up somewhat higher than maybe was needed. These points end up all being relegated to the “nitpicky” category because I fully understand why this film is considered one of the greats. There’s so many small, meticulous things to look out for (ex: the transition from “twin pines” to “lone pine”) and they can easily get lost in a single showing. It’s like its own miniature Easter Egg hunt. It’s hilarious, the score is amazing, the acting is still very convincing, and it’s an absolute joy ride of a film. Although I won’t cover the sequels in future reviews, I’m looking forward to checking them out.
Riot’s Rating: 9.5/10: I’m curious what everyone else’s thoughts are on this point: but has anyone else noticed a decrease in the quality of soundtracks/scores lately? It feels like 80’s and 90’s films really had a strong market for utilizing compelling music in the right moments and they had knack for creating unique and infinitely memorable tunes. It seems like today's films are slacking in this area. What are your thoughts?
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