Why, for instance, is some woman pressing a flyer about fixing Hill Valley's clock tower on Marty? Well, because he'll eventually need to know exactly when lightning will strike. Back to the Future sets up all the pieces on its board, then knocks them over one by one - and with great flair.Įverything that occurs early on serves as a setup for a payoff you might not realize is going to come later That's pretty much it, but Gale and Zemeckis build the story in such a way that everything that occurs early on serves as a setup for a payoff you might not realize is going to come later. Fox) travels back in time to see his parents as teenagers, and then he must find a way to travel forward again. Marty McFly (a perfectly breezy Michael J. Its structure is an elaborately constructed concoction that winds itself as tight as it possibly can in its first half, then unleashes all of that pent-up energy in a second half that never once pauses for breath yet still manages to cram in a full musical sequence. The script always leans toward the latter, to its benefit.įrom start to finish, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis's Oscar-nominated screenplay is a marvel.
Marty slowly disappearing doesn't make logical sense, but it makes tremendous story sense. 1) It boasts the best blockbuster script ever written
Thus, on the 31st anniversary of its release - the movie debuted on JI give you five reasons why Back to the Future is perfect.
It's a weird little science-fiction incest comedy that, to me, sets the standard all other popcorn movies must match, the one that leaves them all feeling a little bit lacking.
Lecture me on how time travel doesn't work like that. Such movies exhaust any critical objections and simply leave you spinning around, with a giddy smile on your face.įor me, that movie is and always shall be Back to the Future, a movie I consider literally perfect. We all have a favorite big, dumb, fun movie that's loud and raucous and less interested in any thematic depth than in giving us a great time.