Right so now I'm getting onto part 2 of my posts on the Rocky film series, and this post will cover Rocky II, which takes off where the first film ended. The film was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone himself and it was released back in 1979. So let's give it a look....
So the film starts where the first film ended with Rocky (Stallone) losing a close fight to Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). After the fight, both men are taken to the hospital due to the extent of their injuries and Apollo challenges Rocky to another fight, but Rocky declines as he announces his retirement. Rocky also requires sugery for his eye as he had a detached retina from the fight and the doctors also insist they he doesn't fight again as it could lead to permanent blindness. After his release from hospital, Rocky gains more publicity from the fight and he enjoys a few of the spoils from the money he gained from the fight and he proposes to Adrian (Talia Shire) and they both soon marry and Adrian becomes pregnant. Rocky also gains an agent who tempts to get him sponsorship deals in order to make a real name for himself, however this soon goes awry during a film shoot for a commercial when Rocky reveals he can't read well. Rocky also soon lands himself into financial difficulty and due to his lack of work experience is eventually forced to take a manual labour job at Paulie's meat packing plant.
Meanwhile Apollo Creed has become obssessed with the notion of a rematch with Rocky as he receives hate mail from the public saying how Apollo was lucky to have won and this time Apollo wants to prove that Rocky's performance was nothing but a fluke. Apollo then insists despite his team's protests that he wants them to find a way to goad Rocky out of retirement and back into the ring. Rocky in the meantime is paid off from the meat packing plant job due to cut backs and he approaches his former manager, Mickey (Burgess Meredith) to ask him to train him again to fight for a rematch with Apollo, but Mickey refuses as he fears that Rocky might go blind as a result. Rocky then asks Mickey if he can help out at the gym, and he does so but is also subject to some ridicule from the boxers there and Rocky also finds a newspaper with a smear campaign against him by Apollo. As Rocky goes home that night he sees Apollo being interviewed on TV who dares Rocky to come out of retirement to fight him again just to prove that he was just lucky. Outraged by the interview, Mickey goes to Rocky and changes his mind and they begin training for the fight, much to Adrian's disapproval.
As Rocky begins his training however he clearly lacks focus due to the lack of support he receives from Adrian, and Rocky's friend and Adrian's brother, Paulie (Burt Young) approaches Adrian and confronts her over this, but as the two of them argue she faints and is rushed to hospital. At the hospital Adrian goes into labour and has her baby, which is born premature, however as a complication to the birth, Adrian falls into a coma. Rocky then puts aside his training as he sits by Adrian's bedside in hospital and prays for her in church as well. Adrian eventually recovers from the coma and the two of them are reunited and introduced to their baby boy (as Rocky refused to see the baby until Adrian had recovered) and Adrian asks Rocky to do one thing for her: to win the fight. And with that Rocky regroups and trains as hard as he can for the big fight which leads into Superfight II in a rematch between Rocky and Apollo, where this time both guys have much to prove as the film culminates in a tense and thrilling battle...
As a sequel to the original, Rocky II does a really good job in progressing the characters from the first film and for me it is a more entertaining and charming film than the first one as well. It still has a similar grimy feel to it just as the first Rocky film does, but this time Stallone manages to make the film that bit more accessible to watch, even in its slower scenes you are still drawn in by the characters and Rocky's triumph over adversity in the film is more compelling than in the original as well. Also in Rocky II, Rocky has become a more light hearted, funny and charming character, perhaps as a result of finding happiness with Adrian and getting married. Apollo Creed on the other hand is shown to be almost something of a villain in the film as he feels incredibly indignant by the hate mail he receives and is determined to prove that Rocky was just lucky in their last fight.
Getting onto the performances, they are all excellent once again, starting with Sylvester Stallone who provides another charming and winning performance (no pun intended!) as Rocky. Stallone also has plenty of good dialogue in the film as well, such as in the scene where he learns to read from a book and Adrian listens to him and she says "You read nice" and he says "Thanks, you lie nice!". Another is where he starts his training with Mickey for the fight, who has him try and catch a chicken in a yard to work on his speed, and Rocky grows quickly exasperated by his failed attempts and he says "I feel like a Kentucky fried idiot!". Also another funny line is where in his press conference with an agitated Apollo he lists the things he will buy from the fight such as "A nice perfume for Adrian, as she likes perfume, and a few hats for myself" and one of the reporters asks "Do you have anything derogatory to say to the champ?" and Rocky thinks for a moment and says "Yeah he's great!". Stallone also a good scene where he first approaches Mickey about fighting again and as Mickey refuses, he quietly asks if he can help out at the gym and Mickey says "what about your dignity? All those guys seeing you carrying buckets of spit around?" and Rocky chokes a little and says "I just gotta be around it.". And Stallone's fight scene with Creed also remains one of the film's real highlights during which he has another great line after the first round, he sits down and says to Mickey "I can't believe it! He's broken my nose again!". And Stallone also has a nice scene where before the fight, he receives a blessing from a local Italian priest in the neighbourhood at his request and he says "That's great! God bless you father!". And finally Stallone ends the film with a classic line when he announces to Adrian who is at home "I just wanna say to my wife who's at home, YO, ADRIAN!! I DID IT!!!".
Talia Shire also provides another quietly charming performance as Adrian, Rocky's shy wife, who starts to come out her shell slowly, but in the film she still play's Adrian very similar to as she did in the first Rocky where she is hardly that vocal, except in her scene where she rows with Paulie. Burt Young also nicely reprises his role as Paulie, who actually takes a bit of a back seat here in the film as he moves from working in the meat factory to being a collector for Rocky's old loan shark, Gazzo (played again by Joe Spinell). Young also get's a line which he oftens repeats in the following Rocky films where he gives Apollo a look during the press conference and he says "I don't sweat you!". Carl Weathers is also excellent once again as Apollo Creed, who this time has something to prove in trying to beat Rocky again in a rematch and as a result Apollo becomes something of a bitter and twisted character. Weathers also has some good lines of dialogue such as in the press conference where he says "This time come thanksgiving in front of his home people, I'm gonna drop him like a bad habit!" and "After I'm finished he'll have to donate whatever's left of his body to medical science, but there won't be that much left, that I can assure you!". And later at the end of the scene he angrily says to the press "Does this look like a circus to you, man?!" and he turns to Rocky and says "Come November, you're mine!". Also Weathers has a really good scene where Apollo meets with his team and he speaks to his manager, Duke (Tony Burton) who urges him to not fight Rocky again, and Apollo says "Do you think I beat him last time?" and Duke quietly says "You got the decision." and Apollo angrily replies "Man, I won but I didn't beat him!". And later in the ring, Weathers also has some good moments where he taunts Rocky as he outmoves him early on and he says "Man, you're too slow! You're too slow! Right get your cameras ready! He's going down..." and he proceeds to knock Rocky down, before the slugfest get's deeper.
And finally Burgress Meredith is terrific again in his role as Mickey, Rocky's trainer and manager, and he plays Mickey in the same cantankerous way as he did in the first film, except he also shows Mickey's compassion and concern for Rocky when Adrian becomes ill. Meredith also get's some of the best dialogue in the film as he chastises and encourages Rocky in order to make him work harder, and he says such things as "This time you're gonna be even more lethal, you're gonna be a 200 pound greased Italian monster!" and the classic line "You're gonna eat lightning and you're gonna crap thunder!". Also in the scene where Rocky comes to his apartment, he notices that Rocky has brought his dog (which was Stallone's real life dog at the time, named Bupkis) and he says to Rocky "What is that you got there, some kind of outer space monster?!" and Rocky notices Mickey's hearing aid and asks him what that is and Mickey relies "Oh this makes me hear stupid things better!". And while Mickey has Rocky try and catch the chicken in a yard, he asks Rocky why he is wearing an old torn top, and Rocky says it brings him luck, and Mickey says "It bring flies!". And my favourite is probably where Mickey after watching Apollo taunting Rocky on TV, goes around to his house and he says "I think we oughta knock his block off!". And lastly another classy one is when Mickey talks to Rocky about Apollo and how he is to be weary of him "Now he will beat you uglier than you are now!".
As for Stallone, he does just as well in directing the film as well as starring in it as he builds on Rocky's character from the first film and turns him into a more endearing character. Stallone also paces the film fairly well and the final fight sequence between Rocky and Apollo is easily one of the best scenes in the film as Stallone captures the excitement and tension of the fight. Moving onto the score, Bill Conti once again provides a nice low key score for the film, which comes to life during the fight sequence and he also reprises the film's memorable theme.
So as for flaws, does Rocky II have any??? Well it has to be said that while it is a better film in my opinion than the first Rocky, it still does feel a bit sluggish in pace at times, especially early on in the film where it meanders after Rocky gets out of hospital and he tries his hand at getting sponsorships through doing a commercial (only to find he can't read the autocue!), and his later struggle to find steady work. And it is important to show that Rocky has to overcome alot of adversity in order to try and achieve his ultimate goal of winning the title, but perhaps at times Stallone labours it a bit too much here. I also thought that it was strange how Apollo quickly decided that he wanted to fight Rocky again even after he arrived the hospital from their match, where he had just said to Rocky in the ring "There ain't gonna be a rematch!" and Rocky says "Don't want one!". It always struck me as a rather sharp sudden change in decision which goes very quickly against Apollo's previous decision. Although to be fair the crux of the film lies around the hate mail that Apollo received and how he resents it and that gives him the perfect motivation to arrange a rematch. Another thing that slightly bothered me was how Rocky could go from giving a very close match in his first fight against Apollo, to then barely winning a point in the rematch even though both men were trading serious blows throughout! As Rocky only managed to win a single round and in the end it was the technical knockout that won him the match and the title rather than him fighting fairly even on points like he did in the first film. Stallone is also a bit guilty of writing the odd bit of a cheesy hackneyed dialogue such as in the scene where he pleads with Adrian "Adrian, I never asked you to stop being a woman, so please, please don't ask me to stop being a man". However that is not a patch on what would follow in the next films! ;-)
Regardless of all that palava however, Rocky II is still a very entertaining film and a solid sequel to the original, which is nicely directed and written by Sylvester Stallone and acted by himself and the cast.
Next up round 3 (Rocky meets Mr T!) I pity the fool! Ding ding!
Till then bye for now!
Khamis, 12 Disember 2013
Rabu, 11 Disember 2013
Rocky Part 1: "Adrian!!!!!"
Right, I've done the Back to the Future trilogy, so this next set of posts is a bit more ambitious as it will cover the Rocky film series, which is six films! So this will keep me going for a bit and take some time over the forthcoming days (before Christmas no less) but should be fun (hopefully!). So let's start with the beginning with the original Rocky film, which was a sleeper hit released back in 1976 and kick started Sylvester Stallone's career as he starred in the lead role of Rocky and also wrote the screenplay for which he received an oscar nomination.
OK so a bit about the plot, the film is set in Phialdelphia in 1975, where Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) a small time boxer, who also acts as a collector for a local loan shark Anthony Gazzo (Joe Spinnell). Rocky lives in a local neighbourhood, where he hangs about with his good friend, Paulie (Burt Young) a meat packing planet worker, and he also vies for the attention of Paulie's shy sister, Adrian (Talia Shire). And soon a big opportunity opens up for Rocky as the heavyweight box champion of the world, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) offers an underdog a shot at the title, and as Creed is taken by Rocky's nickname "The Italian Stallion" he offers the chance to Rocky. After Rocky receives some publicity for the fight, he is approached by his local gym manager, Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith) who offers to train him, although Rocky is reluctant at first, he accepts Mickey's offer as he was also a former boxer. Rocky later get's the attention of the press as Paulie invites a news reporter to watch Rocky punching hung up slabs of meat, which also catches Apollo's eye. Rocky in the meantime develops a romantic relationship with Adrian, as he manages to draw her out of her shell, they become a couple. And as the fight night nears, Rocky trains as hard as he can, but he admits to having his own fears about fighting Apollo and can he beat him. And come with the night of the fight, when Rocky get's into the ring, he ends up giving Apollo more than he bargained for as the film culminates in its emotional climax.
To this day, Rocky still remains a hugely iconic film, which introduced cinema to one of its most endearing characters and underdogs. Stallone himself got the inspiration for the story after watching a fight that took place between Muhammad Ali and a realtively unkown boxer, Chuck Wepner, who surprisingly took Ali the distance (15 rounds) before losing. The first Rocky however for me actually still remains one of my least favourites out of the six films, despite the usual rule that the first film in a trilogy or series is always the best, every now and then this isn't the case (well not for me anyway). But regardless of that, there is still alot to admire and like in Rocky, and one of the things that makes the film work well is the down to earth and realistic qualities the first film has, as it shows Rocky really coming from a very modest working class background, as a small time boxer who is given a big opportunity. Rocky's character is also a bit like an unpolished gem in the film as well, as he is pretty rough round the edges, but his heart is definitely in the right place, especially as he encourages Adrian to come out of her shell as the two of them fall for one another. The other characters are also really well drawn out too, with the bitter and jealous Paulie, a down and out meat plant worker, who is Rocky's good friend, but he ends up feeling resentful as he sees the opportunities Rocky has. Adrian is also an endearing character as Rocky's girlfriend and future wife, and as the films progress, so does Adrian from a very shy, timid woman into a strong and confident person. And Apollo is a great character who's charisma and arrogance is self evident in the film and he ends up being more than surprised by Rocky's resilience in the ring. And Mickey, the hard headed yet compassionate owner of the gym Rock trains at, who eventually manages Rocky and trains him for the fight.
So getting onto the performances which are excellent, starting with Sylvester Stallone who is perfect in the role as Rocky, the uneducated, somewhat rough, yet big hearted boxer who get's the offer of a lifetime. Stallone insisted that he got the opportunity to play the lead role and it would be impossible to imagine anyone else play the part so well. Stallone also get's some great dialogue in the film from his screenplay, such as in the scene where he watches footage of Apollo on the TV, while in a bar, the owner calls Apollo a "jig clown" and Rocky throws down a dollar note and says "Stick that in your business!". Stallone also has a nice scene where Rocky has his first date with Adrian and they later go back to his flat, where he wants Adrian to stay with him, but Adrian is reluctant as Paulie will wonder where she is, and Rocky says its no problem as he shouts out the window "Hey, Paulie! Adrian is staying over here tonight, see you later!!". Also during the fight scene with Apollo, after a round he sits down and he says "He broke my nose, how does it look?" and Mickey says "well its an improvement!". Stallone has another really good scene where he stops a young neighbourhood girl, Marie, from being harrassed and he walks her home and lectures on how not to be and as they arrive at her home she turns and says "Hey Rocky. Screw you, creepo!". And there is the big fight scene with Rocky and Apollo which is done really well and is staged quite realistically unlike some of the fights in the later Rocky films, which leads into the film's emotional climax with Rocky shouting "Adrian!!" as they run up to one another and declare their love. Stallone's scene in the meat factory is also memorable as he punches the meat repeatedly, which Stallone later admitted to saying that it flatted out his knuckles!
Talia Shire is also really good in her role as Adrian, Rocky's rock (if you will!) a very shy pet store worker, who falls in love with Rocky. Shire's two best scenes are her date with Rocky at the ice rink, as they start their first date on a deserted ice rink, and later Rocky gently seduces her in his apartment. And of course the last scene of the film where Adrian turns up at the arena after the fight has finished and she calls out for Rocky and runs to him and tells him she loves him. Burt Young is also great in his role as Rocky's best friend, who is a cynical bum, who is desparate to work for the loan shark Gazzo and is jealous of his relationship with Adrian. Young's best scenes come in the meat factory where he first get's angry with Rocky as he punches a slab of meat hanging up, and Rocky moves toward him and starts punching the meat.
Carl Weathers is also great as Apollo Creed, the world champion heavyweight boxer, who offers Rocky a shot at the title. Weathers also sparred with Stallone in different practice sparring sessions, which were shot by the director John G. Avildsen on 8mm film (or 16??). And during filimg the actual fight sequence, Stallone and Weather also suffered injuries, as Stallone had bruised ribs and Weathers a damaged nose. And their fight scene is a memorable one, which brings up one of Weather's most memorable lines at the end of the fight, as Creed exhausted from the fight says "There ain't gonna no re-match!" and Rocky replies "Don't want one!". And finally Burgess Meredith is terrific in his role as Mickey, Rocky's turned manager, whom he shares some good scenes with. With their best scene probably when Rocky finds that his gym locker has been cleared out and Rocky angrily asks "You know you've been sticking it to me for years and I wanna know why?" and Mickey says "You don't wanna know" and Rocky shouts "I WANNA KNOW!". And Mickey replies "You had the talent to be a good fighter, but instead you became a leg breaker for some cheap second-rate loan shark!" to which Rocky relies "Its a livin!" and Mickey spits back "Its a waste of life!!".
Getting onto the direction, John G. Avildsen does a fine job with Rocky and he brings the characters vividly to life on screen. Avildsen also stages the fight scene really well as well as capture the famous montage sequence of Rocky training really well. In fact Rocky's training scenes where we see Rocky running and jogging through the streets were shot by Garrett Brown, who used his steadicam invention to film this sequence along with some of the shots from the fight scene. The film also features a memorable score by Bill Conti, and the theme tune remains unforgettable to this day, although admittedly the lyrics in the song are a bit cheesy such as "feeling strong now/won't be long now!".
Which brings me onto the flaws of Rocky. Does it have any? Well I have to say for me there are one or two, as the film is a bit guilty of meandering in places, and the pace does feel a bit sluggish and it takes a fair bit of time before it starts to go anywhere. And there are times where the film is also just a bit too low key in its tone that it threatens to even be a bit boring in places, as the sequels had a stronger sense of urgency like Rocky had same place to go, but here there is alot of slow going back and forth, with Rocky saying "Should I do this or that??". It also has to be said I have a problem with Rocky's character in the film, as while he has his rougish charm can also come across as a bit more cynical than he does in the following films, and in that regards he isn't quite as likeable or endearing as he is made out to be in the sequels. But perhaps that is where Sly tries to make Rocky like the unpolished gem, who comes from humble beginnings and is also a collector for a loan shark who spends his time chasing payments and breaking thumbs if they don't pay up, so he has got to have some cynicism and its up to Stallone to ensure the character shakes it off. But for me it has to be said that Rocky as a character isn't quite as likeable in the film as maybe he should be and perhaps that's one of the reasons why the first Rocky isn't among my favourites.
All that aside however, Rocky still remains an entertaining and at times charming film, which kick started the series and introduced one of cinemas most memorable characters. And on that alone Rocky is still worth watching to this day.
Next up round two.... (or Rocky II even).
Bye for now!
OK so a bit about the plot, the film is set in Phialdelphia in 1975, where Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) a small time boxer, who also acts as a collector for a local loan shark Anthony Gazzo (Joe Spinnell). Rocky lives in a local neighbourhood, where he hangs about with his good friend, Paulie (Burt Young) a meat packing planet worker, and he also vies for the attention of Paulie's shy sister, Adrian (Talia Shire). And soon a big opportunity opens up for Rocky as the heavyweight box champion of the world, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) offers an underdog a shot at the title, and as Creed is taken by Rocky's nickname "The Italian Stallion" he offers the chance to Rocky. After Rocky receives some publicity for the fight, he is approached by his local gym manager, Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith) who offers to train him, although Rocky is reluctant at first, he accepts Mickey's offer as he was also a former boxer. Rocky later get's the attention of the press as Paulie invites a news reporter to watch Rocky punching hung up slabs of meat, which also catches Apollo's eye. Rocky in the meantime develops a romantic relationship with Adrian, as he manages to draw her out of her shell, they become a couple. And as the fight night nears, Rocky trains as hard as he can, but he admits to having his own fears about fighting Apollo and can he beat him. And come with the night of the fight, when Rocky get's into the ring, he ends up giving Apollo more than he bargained for as the film culminates in its emotional climax.
To this day, Rocky still remains a hugely iconic film, which introduced cinema to one of its most endearing characters and underdogs. Stallone himself got the inspiration for the story after watching a fight that took place between Muhammad Ali and a realtively unkown boxer, Chuck Wepner, who surprisingly took Ali the distance (15 rounds) before losing. The first Rocky however for me actually still remains one of my least favourites out of the six films, despite the usual rule that the first film in a trilogy or series is always the best, every now and then this isn't the case (well not for me anyway). But regardless of that, there is still alot to admire and like in Rocky, and one of the things that makes the film work well is the down to earth and realistic qualities the first film has, as it shows Rocky really coming from a very modest working class background, as a small time boxer who is given a big opportunity. Rocky's character is also a bit like an unpolished gem in the film as well, as he is pretty rough round the edges, but his heart is definitely in the right place, especially as he encourages Adrian to come out of her shell as the two of them fall for one another. The other characters are also really well drawn out too, with the bitter and jealous Paulie, a down and out meat plant worker, who is Rocky's good friend, but he ends up feeling resentful as he sees the opportunities Rocky has. Adrian is also an endearing character as Rocky's girlfriend and future wife, and as the films progress, so does Adrian from a very shy, timid woman into a strong and confident person. And Apollo is a great character who's charisma and arrogance is self evident in the film and he ends up being more than surprised by Rocky's resilience in the ring. And Mickey, the hard headed yet compassionate owner of the gym Rock trains at, who eventually manages Rocky and trains him for the fight.
So getting onto the performances which are excellent, starting with Sylvester Stallone who is perfect in the role as Rocky, the uneducated, somewhat rough, yet big hearted boxer who get's the offer of a lifetime. Stallone insisted that he got the opportunity to play the lead role and it would be impossible to imagine anyone else play the part so well. Stallone also get's some great dialogue in the film from his screenplay, such as in the scene where he watches footage of Apollo on the TV, while in a bar, the owner calls Apollo a "jig clown" and Rocky throws down a dollar note and says "Stick that in your business!". Stallone also has a nice scene where Rocky has his first date with Adrian and they later go back to his flat, where he wants Adrian to stay with him, but Adrian is reluctant as Paulie will wonder where she is, and Rocky says its no problem as he shouts out the window "Hey, Paulie! Adrian is staying over here tonight, see you later!!". Also during the fight scene with Apollo, after a round he sits down and he says "He broke my nose, how does it look?" and Mickey says "well its an improvement!". Stallone has another really good scene where he stops a young neighbourhood girl, Marie, from being harrassed and he walks her home and lectures on how not to be and as they arrive at her home she turns and says "Hey Rocky. Screw you, creepo!". And there is the big fight scene with Rocky and Apollo which is done really well and is staged quite realistically unlike some of the fights in the later Rocky films, which leads into the film's emotional climax with Rocky shouting "Adrian!!" as they run up to one another and declare their love. Stallone's scene in the meat factory is also memorable as he punches the meat repeatedly, which Stallone later admitted to saying that it flatted out his knuckles!
Talia Shire is also really good in her role as Adrian, Rocky's rock (if you will!) a very shy pet store worker, who falls in love with Rocky. Shire's two best scenes are her date with Rocky at the ice rink, as they start their first date on a deserted ice rink, and later Rocky gently seduces her in his apartment. And of course the last scene of the film where Adrian turns up at the arena after the fight has finished and she calls out for Rocky and runs to him and tells him she loves him. Burt Young is also great in his role as Rocky's best friend, who is a cynical bum, who is desparate to work for the loan shark Gazzo and is jealous of his relationship with Adrian. Young's best scenes come in the meat factory where he first get's angry with Rocky as he punches a slab of meat hanging up, and Rocky moves toward him and starts punching the meat.
Carl Weathers is also great as Apollo Creed, the world champion heavyweight boxer, who offers Rocky a shot at the title. Weathers also sparred with Stallone in different practice sparring sessions, which were shot by the director John G. Avildsen on 8mm film (or 16??). And during filimg the actual fight sequence, Stallone and Weather also suffered injuries, as Stallone had bruised ribs and Weathers a damaged nose. And their fight scene is a memorable one, which brings up one of Weather's most memorable lines at the end of the fight, as Creed exhausted from the fight says "There ain't gonna no re-match!" and Rocky replies "Don't want one!". And finally Burgess Meredith is terrific in his role as Mickey, Rocky's turned manager, whom he shares some good scenes with. With their best scene probably when Rocky finds that his gym locker has been cleared out and Rocky angrily asks "You know you've been sticking it to me for years and I wanna know why?" and Mickey says "You don't wanna know" and Rocky shouts "I WANNA KNOW!". And Mickey replies "You had the talent to be a good fighter, but instead you became a leg breaker for some cheap second-rate loan shark!" to which Rocky relies "Its a livin!" and Mickey spits back "Its a waste of life!!".
Getting onto the direction, John G. Avildsen does a fine job with Rocky and he brings the characters vividly to life on screen. Avildsen also stages the fight scene really well as well as capture the famous montage sequence of Rocky training really well. In fact Rocky's training scenes where we see Rocky running and jogging through the streets were shot by Garrett Brown, who used his steadicam invention to film this sequence along with some of the shots from the fight scene. The film also features a memorable score by Bill Conti, and the theme tune remains unforgettable to this day, although admittedly the lyrics in the song are a bit cheesy such as "feeling strong now/won't be long now!".
Which brings me onto the flaws of Rocky. Does it have any? Well I have to say for me there are one or two, as the film is a bit guilty of meandering in places, and the pace does feel a bit sluggish and it takes a fair bit of time before it starts to go anywhere. And there are times where the film is also just a bit too low key in its tone that it threatens to even be a bit boring in places, as the sequels had a stronger sense of urgency like Rocky had same place to go, but here there is alot of slow going back and forth, with Rocky saying "Should I do this or that??". It also has to be said I have a problem with Rocky's character in the film, as while he has his rougish charm can also come across as a bit more cynical than he does in the following films, and in that regards he isn't quite as likeable or endearing as he is made out to be in the sequels. But perhaps that is where Sly tries to make Rocky like the unpolished gem, who comes from humble beginnings and is also a collector for a loan shark who spends his time chasing payments and breaking thumbs if they don't pay up, so he has got to have some cynicism and its up to Stallone to ensure the character shakes it off. But for me it has to be said that Rocky as a character isn't quite as likeable in the film as maybe he should be and perhaps that's one of the reasons why the first Rocky isn't among my favourites.
All that aside however, Rocky still remains an entertaining and at times charming film, which kick started the series and introduced one of cinemas most memorable characters. And on that alone Rocky is still worth watching to this day.
Next up round two.... (or Rocky II even).
Bye for now!
Ahad, 8 Disember 2013
Back to the future Part 3: "Eastwood, Clint Eastwood!"
Right so its time to wrap up my posts on the Back to the Future trilogy as I now move onto Part III which sees Marty try to save the Doc from fate who lives back in the old wild west. So with that let's warm up the flux capacitor, rev up to 88mph and get going....
So the film starts where Part II left off with Marty in 1955 having just witnessed the Doc's DeLorean get struck by lightning and minutes later receiving a letter from a man written by the Doc over 70 years ago, which states he is alive and well and living in 1885. Marty then runs off and finds the Doc of 1955, whom he shows the letter, which reveals the Doc of his Marty's time is living in the old wild west and he has left the DeLorean safely stored in an old abadoned mine, with the Doc's 1955 counterpart's help, will get Marty back home. As Marty and the Doc uncover the time machine, Marty spots a tombstone which has the Doc's name inscribed on it, which states he was "shot in the back by Buford Tannen over a matter of 80 dollars". Marty then decides to go back in time to save the Doc from being shot and to take him back to 1985. The 1955 doc then repairs the DeLorean and sets the time machine to arrive the day after the doc wrote the letter on 1 September, and with that Marty travels back in time to 1885.
When Marty arrives in 1885 he parks the DeLorean in an old cave, narrowly escaping a stampede from the US Cavalry pursuing Indians, and as he emerges from the cave he realises the fuel line has been damaged by an arrow. Marty then travels toward Hill Valley, and on the way meets his great great grandparents, the Irish born Seamus and Maggie McFly (Fox and Lea Thompson) who point him toward the town. When Marty get's there however he runs into the infamous Buford Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) and his gang, who chase him and nearly hang up, but Marty is saved by the Doc. Marty later shows the Doc the letter and he agrees to leave 1885 with him, however on hearing the fuel line has been damaged and the car is out of fuel, the Doc says their chances of getting back to 1985 are extremely remote. After some experimentation however, the Doc eventually comes up with a way to possibly get the DeLorean up to 88 mph by using a locomotive train to push up to that speed. While they are out looking at the railway track they will use, the Doc and Marty spot a horse wagon in the distance spiral out of control, and the Doc goes after and rescues the passenger, Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen) and they soon both fall in love.
At a town festival, Buford and his gang arrive and he threatens to kill the Doc, but Marty intervenes, and Buford ends up challenging Marty to a showdown, which Marty is forced to accept. As a result the photo Marty had taken of the Doc's tombstone starts to change as it no longer has his name on it, which the Doc suggests could mean that it could be Marty that is killed instead of him, but Marty insists as long as they leave early that morning before he is set to face Buford then nothing will happen. The night before they are due to depart, the Doc visits Clara and tells her that he is from the future and that he must go home, however she refuses to believe him and she angrily dismisses him. The Doc, heartbroken, heads to the local saloon and orders a glass of whiskey, which he eventually drinks as Marty arrives in the morning, and he passes out instantly. At this point Buford and his gang arrive outside to challenge Marty, where he must try to find a way to save himself, the Doc and try and race against time to reach the locomotive so they can get back to 1985.
Part III for me was a satisfying conclusion to the Back to the Future trilogy and even though I would actually consider it to be my least favourite of three films, its still a very entertaining one at that. The setting of the old west actually works very well in the film and it also allows for a set of new characters to come in due to the period setting. And with Part III Bobs Zemeckis and Gale have written another funny, intelligent and charming script which ties up all the ends from the previous two films very nicely. Its also fun to see not only Marty's story arc complete but also the Doc's who after many years as a lone obssessed scientist, has now fallen in love with a woman, Clara, a teacher who shares his passion for science and literature. Marty also learns a valuable lesson in the film as in Part II he was guilty of being hotheaded when someone called him "chicken" but here he learns not to care what other people think of him, which proves vitally important to his own future.
Performance wise things are excellent again, starting with Michael J. Fox who does another fine job as the good natured and plucky Marty McFly, who is just desparate to get himself back to his own time as well as try and save the Doc in the process. Fox in Part III get's some great dialogue and some of his most fun moments such as where he first enters the saloon and tells Buford his name "Eastwood, Clint Eastwood!" to which Buford just laughs and says "What kind of stupid name is that???!" after which Buford shoots at his feet to make him dance, and Marty performs a bizarre moonwalk and jumps on a loose plank, holding a bucket of oily gunk, which lands all over Buford. Also in the scene where Marty attends the town festival and after he has confronted Buford, Seamus and Maggie express their concerns over his rash actions in accepting the showdown, and Maggie says to Marty "I hope you are considering the future, Mr Eastwood!" and she walks off, with Marty saying to himself "I think about it all the time". And there is also the scene where Marty looks at himself in the mirror wearing his gun belt and pointing his gun at the mirror, he says "You talkin to me?? You talkin to me, Tannen?! Well I'm the only one here. Go ahead! Make my day!". At the festival Fox also has some fun moments where he tries out a gun on shooting targets, and he misses the first go and tries again and hits all the targets perfectly leaving the gun salesman asking "where did you learn to shoot like that?" and Marty replies "Seven eleven". In the same scene Marty also eats a piece of from a metal circular tray which has the word "frisbie" inscribed on it, which Marty holds up to Seamus and Maggie and says "Hey Frisbie! Far out!" and walks off leaving them puzzled as Maggie says "It was right infront of him!". Another scene which is good is where he first meets Seamus and Maggie and he holds their baby son, William, and he says "So you're William. The first McFly to be born in America.... and you peed on me!".
Christopher Lloyd is again great as the eccentric Doc, who lives back in the old west and get's in trouble with Buford and his gang and also falls for Clara. Lloyd has some great highlights again such as in the scene where he is first introduced in the old west as she shoots down Marty from the noose his was tied to and he later says to Marty as he remarks on the silly western outfit he wears "What idiot dressed you in that outfit?" and Marty weakly replies "You did!". Lloyd also has some charming moments with Mary Steenburgen in their scenes together as the Doc and Clara as they reminisce over the writings of Jules Verne and also their break up scene is also quite poignant (if a bit corny). Although Lloyd's funniest moments come when he sits in the bar, heartbroken after breaking up with Clara he drones on about what the future is like to everyone in the bar who listens bemused, and Marty runs and tells him they need to go and the Doc downs the whiskey in one go and collapses instantly, which is followed by him being given some wake-up, which causes him to leap up, screaming he runs outside and dunks his head in the water trough! The Doc also later on after he has regained consciousness says "One thing I miss from the future is Tylenol!". Lloyd also has some fun moments with Fox in their scenes together as the Doc and Marty, and they have a moment where they trade phrases where Marty realises the photo of tombstone could have his name on it he says "Great Scott!" and the Doc says "I know this is heavy!". And the scene where the Doc and Marty reach the locomotive, the Doc pulls a gun on the driver, who asks them "Is this a stick up??" and the Doc says "Its a science experiment!".
Thomas F. Wilson is great again, this time in his role as the villainous outlaw Buford Tannen, and his character's rather slow dim-witted nature also makes for some amusing moments and he get's some good lines. In his first scene where he faces Marty in the saloon, he pulls a gun on Marty and shoots at the floor and he shouts "Come on, runt! You can dance better than that!". And another good line Wilson has is in the same scene where Marty makes the mistake of calling Buford his nickname, "Mad dog" and Buford get's real mad, "Mad dog, I hate that name. I hate it, hear you?! Nobody calls me Mad dog! Especially not some duded up egg sucking gutter trash!". Also later on at the town festival after he has made his showdown deal with Marty he goes up to him and says "8 o'clock Monday, Eastwood. If you aren't out there I'm gonna hunt you down and shoot you like a duck!" to which one of his gang corrects him as it should be "like a dog" and he get's angry "Let's go, boys! Let these sissies have their party!". But my favourite moment of Wilson's is the scene where he has his showdown with Marty who ends up getting the better of him, by punching his lights out and Buford falls face flat into a cart filled with horse manure. After this is pulled up out of the manure and the sherriff reads his rights and asks him if he has anything to say, to which Buford spits out a disgusting piece of a green manure and says "I hate manure!" (a line reprised from Part II when Biff crashes his car into a manure truck after chasing Marty).
As for the supporting cast, Mary Steenburgen does a nice job as Clara Clayton, the Doc's love interest, and she plays her pretty much as a nice straight laced lady, who has an enthusiasm for all things sciencey just like the Doc. Although her performance is a bit corny at times, particularly in the scene where she breaks up with the Doc, and she says "All you had to say was you don't love me anymore and you don't want to see me again. That would have been at least more respectful!" as she slams the door in his face and runs to her bed sobbing. Lea Thompson although she has a smaller role this time, again provides a nice performance as the Irish immigrant Maggie McFly who has recently arrived in America with her husband Seamus. James Tolkan also makes a welcome return in a previous incarnation of his character Strickland, who is the town's Marshall, who has it in for Buford and his gang. And he has a good scene where he warns Buford at the town festival about carrying firearms, which Buford ditches, and he says "Smile, Marshall. After all it is a party" and Strickland replies "The only party I'll smile at is the one that sees you at the end of a rope!". And later he says to his young son "Remember son that's the way you handle them, don't give them an inch, and always maintain discipline. That's the key: discipline!". Elisabeth Shue also briefly reprises her role as Jennifer, and she has a good scene where Marty wakes her up and she hugs him and says "Marty! I had the worse nightmare!". And finally Flea makes a welcome return in his brief role as Marty's rival, Needles, as he challenges him to a race at the end, which turns out to be a key moment in Marty's life.
Getting on to Robert Zemeckis who does a grand job once more in Part III and here he manages to inject a bit more charm to the proceedings, which was probably missing from Part II, as well as keep the plot and the pacing of the film moving along at a nice speed without the film ever feeling padded out. Zemeckis also uses the wild west setting to great visual effect in the film, as it is easily the most vivid and beautifully shot film out of the three, with superb photography by Dean Cundey (who was the DP on all three films). Zemeckis actually had his production team build a large set for the wild west Hill Valley setting out near a ranch in Jamestown, California. Zemeckis also created a very impressively staged climax sequence where Marty and the Doc attempt to get back to 1985 by using the locomotive, which was filmed out at an old heritage rail line in Jamestown. The film's music score is also again worthy of note, as Alan Silvestri provides a nice jaunty score around the wild west theme and it allows for Silvestri to have a bit of fun in the process, while he still deploys his usual methods of creating rising dramatic passages in the music, which can at times grate a little (especially when he overdoes it!). The film also includes a great catchy little ditty during the town festival while the townsfolk dance, which as soon you hear it, you won't forget it! ("Dee dee dee, dee dee dee!"). ;-)
So as for Part III, does it have any flaws??? Well while its not perfect, there isn't a great deal much wrong with Part III, however after the almost slightly cynical tone of Part II, in Part III things have been more softened in contrast and at times the film can actually be guilty of being a bit soppy and sentimental. The film's ending I also always felt was a bit daft and corny and while it certainly gives closure to the trilogy, it does leave you a little underwhelmed at how they finished it up. Especially as the Doc gives Marty and Jennifer the all important moral of the story that "The future hasn't been written yet! No one's has. You're future is what you make it. So make it a good one!". In that scene we also see the Doc and Clara's two children (who are rather cheesily named Jules and Verne) and the one on the right, also makes some rather creepy and suggestive hand movements in the background! (what was going on there I don't know?? But surely Bob Zemeckis should have looked into it! In fact the kid wouldn't have looked out of place in the Shining as perhaps a brother to the two creepy sisters! ;-)).
Anyway that all aside, Back to the Part III is still a very pleasant, funny and cleverly crafted finale to the trilogy and if you haven't seen it in a while, its well worth giving it another go.
And with that, that's my look at the Back to the Future trilogy over with. Till then next post, bye for now!
So the film starts where Part II left off with Marty in 1955 having just witnessed the Doc's DeLorean get struck by lightning and minutes later receiving a letter from a man written by the Doc over 70 years ago, which states he is alive and well and living in 1885. Marty then runs off and finds the Doc of 1955, whom he shows the letter, which reveals the Doc of his Marty's time is living in the old wild west and he has left the DeLorean safely stored in an old abadoned mine, with the Doc's 1955 counterpart's help, will get Marty back home. As Marty and the Doc uncover the time machine, Marty spots a tombstone which has the Doc's name inscribed on it, which states he was "shot in the back by Buford Tannen over a matter of 80 dollars". Marty then decides to go back in time to save the Doc from being shot and to take him back to 1985. The 1955 doc then repairs the DeLorean and sets the time machine to arrive the day after the doc wrote the letter on 1 September, and with that Marty travels back in time to 1885.
When Marty arrives in 1885 he parks the DeLorean in an old cave, narrowly escaping a stampede from the US Cavalry pursuing Indians, and as he emerges from the cave he realises the fuel line has been damaged by an arrow. Marty then travels toward Hill Valley, and on the way meets his great great grandparents, the Irish born Seamus and Maggie McFly (Fox and Lea Thompson) who point him toward the town. When Marty get's there however he runs into the infamous Buford Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) and his gang, who chase him and nearly hang up, but Marty is saved by the Doc. Marty later shows the Doc the letter and he agrees to leave 1885 with him, however on hearing the fuel line has been damaged and the car is out of fuel, the Doc says their chances of getting back to 1985 are extremely remote. After some experimentation however, the Doc eventually comes up with a way to possibly get the DeLorean up to 88 mph by using a locomotive train to push up to that speed. While they are out looking at the railway track they will use, the Doc and Marty spot a horse wagon in the distance spiral out of control, and the Doc goes after and rescues the passenger, Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen) and they soon both fall in love.
At a town festival, Buford and his gang arrive and he threatens to kill the Doc, but Marty intervenes, and Buford ends up challenging Marty to a showdown, which Marty is forced to accept. As a result the photo Marty had taken of the Doc's tombstone starts to change as it no longer has his name on it, which the Doc suggests could mean that it could be Marty that is killed instead of him, but Marty insists as long as they leave early that morning before he is set to face Buford then nothing will happen. The night before they are due to depart, the Doc visits Clara and tells her that he is from the future and that he must go home, however she refuses to believe him and she angrily dismisses him. The Doc, heartbroken, heads to the local saloon and orders a glass of whiskey, which he eventually drinks as Marty arrives in the morning, and he passes out instantly. At this point Buford and his gang arrive outside to challenge Marty, where he must try to find a way to save himself, the Doc and try and race against time to reach the locomotive so they can get back to 1985.
Part III for me was a satisfying conclusion to the Back to the Future trilogy and even though I would actually consider it to be my least favourite of three films, its still a very entertaining one at that. The setting of the old west actually works very well in the film and it also allows for a set of new characters to come in due to the period setting. And with Part III Bobs Zemeckis and Gale have written another funny, intelligent and charming script which ties up all the ends from the previous two films very nicely. Its also fun to see not only Marty's story arc complete but also the Doc's who after many years as a lone obssessed scientist, has now fallen in love with a woman, Clara, a teacher who shares his passion for science and literature. Marty also learns a valuable lesson in the film as in Part II he was guilty of being hotheaded when someone called him "chicken" but here he learns not to care what other people think of him, which proves vitally important to his own future.
Performance wise things are excellent again, starting with Michael J. Fox who does another fine job as the good natured and plucky Marty McFly, who is just desparate to get himself back to his own time as well as try and save the Doc in the process. Fox in Part III get's some great dialogue and some of his most fun moments such as where he first enters the saloon and tells Buford his name "Eastwood, Clint Eastwood!" to which Buford just laughs and says "What kind of stupid name is that???!" after which Buford shoots at his feet to make him dance, and Marty performs a bizarre moonwalk and jumps on a loose plank, holding a bucket of oily gunk, which lands all over Buford. Also in the scene where Marty attends the town festival and after he has confronted Buford, Seamus and Maggie express their concerns over his rash actions in accepting the showdown, and Maggie says to Marty "I hope you are considering the future, Mr Eastwood!" and she walks off, with Marty saying to himself "I think about it all the time". And there is also the scene where Marty looks at himself in the mirror wearing his gun belt and pointing his gun at the mirror, he says "You talkin to me?? You talkin to me, Tannen?! Well I'm the only one here. Go ahead! Make my day!". At the festival Fox also has some fun moments where he tries out a gun on shooting targets, and he misses the first go and tries again and hits all the targets perfectly leaving the gun salesman asking "where did you learn to shoot like that?" and Marty replies "Seven eleven". In the same scene Marty also eats a piece of from a metal circular tray which has the word "frisbie" inscribed on it, which Marty holds up to Seamus and Maggie and says "Hey Frisbie! Far out!" and walks off leaving them puzzled as Maggie says "It was right infront of him!". Another scene which is good is where he first meets Seamus and Maggie and he holds their baby son, William, and he says "So you're William. The first McFly to be born in America.... and you peed on me!".
Christopher Lloyd is again great as the eccentric Doc, who lives back in the old west and get's in trouble with Buford and his gang and also falls for Clara. Lloyd has some great highlights again such as in the scene where he is first introduced in the old west as she shoots down Marty from the noose his was tied to and he later says to Marty as he remarks on the silly western outfit he wears "What idiot dressed you in that outfit?" and Marty weakly replies "You did!". Lloyd also has some charming moments with Mary Steenburgen in their scenes together as the Doc and Clara as they reminisce over the writings of Jules Verne and also their break up scene is also quite poignant (if a bit corny). Although Lloyd's funniest moments come when he sits in the bar, heartbroken after breaking up with Clara he drones on about what the future is like to everyone in the bar who listens bemused, and Marty runs and tells him they need to go and the Doc downs the whiskey in one go and collapses instantly, which is followed by him being given some wake-up, which causes him to leap up, screaming he runs outside and dunks his head in the water trough! The Doc also later on after he has regained consciousness says "One thing I miss from the future is Tylenol!". Lloyd also has some fun moments with Fox in their scenes together as the Doc and Marty, and they have a moment where they trade phrases where Marty realises the photo of tombstone could have his name on it he says "Great Scott!" and the Doc says "I know this is heavy!". And the scene where the Doc and Marty reach the locomotive, the Doc pulls a gun on the driver, who asks them "Is this a stick up??" and the Doc says "Its a science experiment!".
Thomas F. Wilson is great again, this time in his role as the villainous outlaw Buford Tannen, and his character's rather slow dim-witted nature also makes for some amusing moments and he get's some good lines. In his first scene where he faces Marty in the saloon, he pulls a gun on Marty and shoots at the floor and he shouts "Come on, runt! You can dance better than that!". And another good line Wilson has is in the same scene where Marty makes the mistake of calling Buford his nickname, "Mad dog" and Buford get's real mad, "Mad dog, I hate that name. I hate it, hear you?! Nobody calls me Mad dog! Especially not some duded up egg sucking gutter trash!". Also later on at the town festival after he has made his showdown deal with Marty he goes up to him and says "8 o'clock Monday, Eastwood. If you aren't out there I'm gonna hunt you down and shoot you like a duck!" to which one of his gang corrects him as it should be "like a dog" and he get's angry "Let's go, boys! Let these sissies have their party!". But my favourite moment of Wilson's is the scene where he has his showdown with Marty who ends up getting the better of him, by punching his lights out and Buford falls face flat into a cart filled with horse manure. After this is pulled up out of the manure and the sherriff reads his rights and asks him if he has anything to say, to which Buford spits out a disgusting piece of a green manure and says "I hate manure!" (a line reprised from Part II when Biff crashes his car into a manure truck after chasing Marty).
As for the supporting cast, Mary Steenburgen does a nice job as Clara Clayton, the Doc's love interest, and she plays her pretty much as a nice straight laced lady, who has an enthusiasm for all things sciencey just like the Doc. Although her performance is a bit corny at times, particularly in the scene where she breaks up with the Doc, and she says "All you had to say was you don't love me anymore and you don't want to see me again. That would have been at least more respectful!" as she slams the door in his face and runs to her bed sobbing. Lea Thompson although she has a smaller role this time, again provides a nice performance as the Irish immigrant Maggie McFly who has recently arrived in America with her husband Seamus. James Tolkan also makes a welcome return in a previous incarnation of his character Strickland, who is the town's Marshall, who has it in for Buford and his gang. And he has a good scene where he warns Buford at the town festival about carrying firearms, which Buford ditches, and he says "Smile, Marshall. After all it is a party" and Strickland replies "The only party I'll smile at is the one that sees you at the end of a rope!". And later he says to his young son "Remember son that's the way you handle them, don't give them an inch, and always maintain discipline. That's the key: discipline!". Elisabeth Shue also briefly reprises her role as Jennifer, and she has a good scene where Marty wakes her up and she hugs him and says "Marty! I had the worse nightmare!". And finally Flea makes a welcome return in his brief role as Marty's rival, Needles, as he challenges him to a race at the end, which turns out to be a key moment in Marty's life.
Getting on to Robert Zemeckis who does a grand job once more in Part III and here he manages to inject a bit more charm to the proceedings, which was probably missing from Part II, as well as keep the plot and the pacing of the film moving along at a nice speed without the film ever feeling padded out. Zemeckis also uses the wild west setting to great visual effect in the film, as it is easily the most vivid and beautifully shot film out of the three, with superb photography by Dean Cundey (who was the DP on all three films). Zemeckis actually had his production team build a large set for the wild west Hill Valley setting out near a ranch in Jamestown, California. Zemeckis also created a very impressively staged climax sequence where Marty and the Doc attempt to get back to 1985 by using the locomotive, which was filmed out at an old heritage rail line in Jamestown. The film's music score is also again worthy of note, as Alan Silvestri provides a nice jaunty score around the wild west theme and it allows for Silvestri to have a bit of fun in the process, while he still deploys his usual methods of creating rising dramatic passages in the music, which can at times grate a little (especially when he overdoes it!). The film also includes a great catchy little ditty during the town festival while the townsfolk dance, which as soon you hear it, you won't forget it! ("Dee dee dee, dee dee dee!"). ;-)
So as for Part III, does it have any flaws??? Well while its not perfect, there isn't a great deal much wrong with Part III, however after the almost slightly cynical tone of Part II, in Part III things have been more softened in contrast and at times the film can actually be guilty of being a bit soppy and sentimental. The film's ending I also always felt was a bit daft and corny and while it certainly gives closure to the trilogy, it does leave you a little underwhelmed at how they finished it up. Especially as the Doc gives Marty and Jennifer the all important moral of the story that "The future hasn't been written yet! No one's has. You're future is what you make it. So make it a good one!". In that scene we also see the Doc and Clara's two children (who are rather cheesily named Jules and Verne) and the one on the right, also makes some rather creepy and suggestive hand movements in the background! (what was going on there I don't know?? But surely Bob Zemeckis should have looked into it! In fact the kid wouldn't have looked out of place in the Shining as perhaps a brother to the two creepy sisters! ;-)).
Anyway that all aside, Back to the Part III is still a very pleasant, funny and cleverly crafted finale to the trilogy and if you haven't seen it in a while, its well worth giving it another go.
And with that, that's my look at the Back to the Future trilogy over with. Till then next post, bye for now!
Jumaat, 6 Disember 2013
Back to the future Part 2: "Batter up!"
Right so now onto the second part of my blog entries on the Back to the Future trilogy, which will cover Back to the Future Part II (and why not?!) the sequel to the hugely successful first film. So let's give it a look and see how it fares next to the original...
So the story begins right off after the end of the first film, where Marty (Michael J. Fox) now having made it back to 1985 and having successfully altered the timeline to get his parents back together. And the next morning, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) arrives in his Dolorean time machine and warns Marty that he needs to come with him to the future as there is something seriously wrong with in the future with his kids. Marty travels with the Doc, along with his girlfriend Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue) into the future in the year 2015, where the Doc tells Marty that he needs him to pose as his future son, Marty Jr (also Fox) in order to prevent his son from being involved in a robbery with Biff Tannen's grandson, Griff (also played by Thomas F. Wilson) which would eventually lead to his family's breakdown. Marty meets with Griff and turns down his involvement in the robbery, when Griff taunts him about being a chicken, Marty loses it and the two of them fight, with Marty fleeing in the same style as he did in the first film when the young Biff chased him. In the ensuing chase Marty manages to outwit Griff and his gang who end up being arrested by the police after crashing into the town courthouse. With Griff and his gang now arrested, Marty's future is now safe.
Marty however unwittingly complicates things when he a buys a sports alamac in a memorobilia shop, and the book itself contains the result of every major sporting event between 1950 and 2000. Marty however is soon caught out by the Doc, who warns him of the consequences of tampering with time and using the book would be very dangerous and convinces to dump in the trash, but Biff Tannen, now an elderly man in future, overhears their conversation and he ends up taking the discarded book. Biff then follows Marty and Doc to a housing complex where the police have taken Jennifer to her home in the future, who was rendered unconscious by the Doc earlier. Jennifer wakes up in her future home and hides just as she sees her future daughter (played by Fox!) and Marty's mother and Jennifer's future mother in law, Lorraine (Lea Thompson) arrive. Later on the future Marty, now aged 47, arrives home as well and he is soon persuaded into a shady business deal along with a business colleague of his, Needles (played by Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers). However Marty's supervisor having overheard the transmission calls up Marty and has him fired as a result. Jennifer eventually sneaks out the house but encounters her future self on the way out and they both pass out in shock at seeing each other, which let's the Doc take the young Jennifer back.
However in the meantime, the old Biff has stolen the Doc's time machine, but he arrives back just before the Doc and Marty reappear with Jennifer. When Marty and Doc arrive back in 1985, they drop off Jennifer at her home, and when Marty goes to his he finds the front door padlocked and he ends up going through his bedroom window only to find the house is now owned by a black family who chase him out. Marty soon realises something has gone awfully wrong in that Hill Valley has now been turned into chaos, and he stumbles upon finding that Biff, aged 47, is now wealthy and corrupt, and married to his mother, with his father George having died back in 1973. Marty meets up again with Doc who explains that the old Biff somehow managed to steal the time machine and travel back in time and gave the sports almanac to his younger self at some point in order for him to become wealthy. And in order for them to put things right again, they must find out where and when the old Biff went with the sports almanac. Marty then goes back to confront the Biff of 1985, who tells him he got the book from an old man back in November 12, 1955, and that the old Biff told him to kill anyone who tries to find out about the book, which leads Biff to try and kill Marty. Marty however soon manages to escape from Biff, who also admits to killing Marty's father, George, as the Doc arrives with the DeLorean up on the top of Biff's hotel, who knocks out Biff by opening the car door on his face. From here Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 where they must try and find a way to succeed in saving the future from falling into the hands of Biff Tannen.
As a sequel to the original, BTTF Part II is a very entertaining follow up and I would have to actually say it would be my second personal favourite of the three films. In Part II the plot is more convoluted but its also far more involving in that regard as well, as both Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale have created another very funny, witty and above all intelligent script which pokes fun at the themes of the first film and how even the Doc and Marty have to carefully tread around the timelines they have created in the different times. It also clevely recreates some of the scenarios of the first film such as Marty chasing Griff and his crew, in a similar way to the first when he chased Biff, as well as how Marty must sneak around his other self when he is at the Enchantment under the sea dance. Part II and III were also both shot back to back throughout 1989 so their release naturally followed one after the other with Part II in 1989 and III in 1990.
And while the film is a bit silly in its depiction of the future in some ways, in others it is actually spot on such as its take on technological advances. As a few examples in the film in the future Marty plays an old one armed bandit video game, with a handgun, where some young kids look on incredilously at how it involves having to use your hands, and now we have the Microsoft Kinect system used with the Xbox, which no longer requires a game pad. Other accurate predictions made shown in the film are the use of digital flat panel TVs, which we see in the scene in Marty's future home, where his son sits and watches 6 channels all at the same time, and also video internet chatting is displayed where Marty Sr talks with Needles over the shady business proposal. So in these regards Part II really was ahead of its time in its thinking and just maybe Zemeckis and Gale knew something we didn't! ;-)
Performance wise Part II is pretty good and the regular cast are all on form once again, with Michael J. Fox great once more as the young (and old!) Marty, who is thrown into sorting out his own future at the Doc's behest. Fox has several highlights in the film, especially in the scenes where we get to see him play his incompetent future son and also even his future daughter, as they are both so ridiculous! Fox as Marty's son also get's a hilarious moment where he meets with the young bully, Griff, who asks him if he is in or our for the robbery and Marty says "I don't know I think I should ask my father!". Also as Marty Jr, Fox uses a a line from Midnight Cowboy as a he walks onto the road a car toots its horn at him he shouts "Hey! I'm walking here!". Fox also has some fun with the character of Marty where he has to go back in time to 1955 and try and avoid coming into contact with his other self from that time at the school dance, when he is spotted by Biff's gang, he climbs up over the stage lighting rig above where his 1955 counterpart is playing guitar, and he drops sandbags onto Biff's gang, after this, Marty's other self moves behind the stage and looks confused at the unconscious bodies of the gang. This also leads into a funny scene where the young Biff taunts Marty and calls him a chicken, where Marty angrily turns to him and says "Nobody ever calls me chick....!" and his other self opens the door in Marty's face, knocking Marty sideways to the ground! Fox also has another funny moment where he wakes up in Biff's hotel room and he is comforted by his mum, who has had a breast enlargement done, and he says "But mom you're so... you're so.... big!". As the middle aged Marty, Fox has some funny moments where his elderly mother, Lorraine, makes dinner for them by taking a tiny frozen pizza which is placed in a special hydration microwave and she takes it out a few seconds later and its turned into a massive pizza. And as Lorraine serves it up Marty says "Oh maw, you sure know how to hydrate a pizza!". Also in the scene where the middle aged Marty talks to his co-worker Needles, who taunts him by calling him a chicken, he says "nobody calls me chicken, Needles! Nobody!!". This of course proves to be a running theme in Parts II and III where Marty reacts angrily to being called a chicken, which ultimately plays a key part in his future.
Christopher Lloyd is also great again as Doc Brown, and he has a gallon of lines to deliver, which he does in his own inimitable way at a frantic pace, with great energy. Lloyd has many highlights in the film and great dialogue, such as when they arrive in the future and after the Doc parks the DeLorean, the rain is still on and he looks at his watch and waits a few seconds then the rain goes off, "Right on the tick. Too bad the post office in the future isn't as efficient as the weather service!". And also a bit later on when the Doc warns Marty about young Griff "Oh and watch out for that Griff character, Marty. He's got a few short circuits in his bionic implants!". And on the revelation that Jennifer has been taken by the police, possibly back to her future home, he says the consequences could be disastrous: "I foresee two possibilities. One coming face to face with herself put her into shock and she'd simply pass out. Or two, the encounter could create a paradox, which would unravel the fabric of the space contium and destroy the universe! Granted that is the worst case scenario. The destruction might in fact might be localised, limited to merely our own galaxy!" which prompts "Well that's a relief!" from Marty. Lloyd also has a nice little scene where he accidentally bumps into himself from the past in 1955 when he encounters his other self set up the experiment for Marty to get back to 1985. And the Doc's other self asks for a wrench on a toolbox, which the Doc hands to him without looking and they talk about the weather quickly, and the Doc's other self says "Nice talkin to you. Maybe we might bump into each other again in the future." and the Doc slowly walks away saying "Or maybe the past!".
Thomas F. Wilson this time has a meatier role as Biff, and he does a great job in playing both the young, middle-aged and elderly Biff Tannen (as well as Grff!), with the middle aged one proving the most dangerous and villainous. Wilson has plenty of good moments himself, such as in the scene where the young Biff tries to woo Lorraine back in 1955 and he grabs her and says "When are you gonna get it into your thick skull, Lorraine, you're my girl!" and she tells him she would never be his girl, even if he had a million dollars, and she clubs him with the box for her dress and runs away. And Biff runs after her yelling "Yes you will! Its you and me, Lorraine! Its meant to be! I'm gonna marry you someday, Lorraine. Some day you will be my wife!!". Later on Wilson has a fun scene when his older self and younger self meet in 1955 and the old Biff gives the young one the Almanac and the young Biff says "Thank you so much, now why don't you make like a tree and get out of here" and the old Biff smacks him on the head and says "Leave! Make like a tree and leave! You sound like a damn fool when you get it wrong!". And the middle aged Biff also has some good lines such as when he first storms into his hotel room and finds Marty there and shouts at him "You're supposed to be in Switzerland you little son of a bitch!". Wilson has some funny moments as Griff, Biff's young grandson, such as when he meets Marty, after having subdued the younger Marty Jr, Marty pushes him back and Griff says "Well! Since when did you become the physical type?!". and as Marty says no to Griff's proposition, Griff says "What's wrong, McFly?? Chicken???" and one of his gang plays the sound of a chicken.
Lea Thompson is also really good again in her role as Lorraine, who also has fun in playing the young, middle aged and elderly Lorraine. Although her eldlerly take on Lorraine is a bit of comical and its really the middle aged Lorraine that lends a bit more gravitas to her performance as a woman forced into a loveless marriage. Lea does also get something good lines in her role as Lorraine, particularly in her middle aged role as Biff threatens to cut off her money and he says "who's gonna pay for your cosmetic surgery, Lorraine?!" and she turns and says "You're the one that wanted me to get those things! You wan't em back? You can have them!". Also in the scene where she parks with Marty in the car before the school dance, she says to Marty in the car "When I have kids one day they can have anything, anything they want" and he quitely says "I'd like to have that in writing!".
In the supporting cast, Elisabeth Shue does a good job at filling in for Claudia Wells, who was in the first film but was unable to continue due to personal circumstances with her family. Elisabeth although ultimately has a rather small role, but her best scene comes when she comes face to face with her future self and they both look at each other and screams out "I'm old/I'm young!" at one another before passing out. And in the scene prior to that, while in her future house she sees a cheesy wedding picture of her and Marty which says "Chapel o Love" and she says "I get married in the Chapel o Love??? I gotta get out of here!". James Tolkan reprises his role as Mr Strickland and he is hilarious in this film as he is given a slightly bigger role and some great dialogue. Tolkan's best scene is in the alternate 1985 where he encounters Marty on his porch and he is armed with a shotgun and he says to Marty who tells he gave him detention just last week "The school burned down six years ago. Now you've got exactly three seconds to get off my porch with your nuts in tact!". After this a gang do a drive-by shooting on his house and Strickland runs after them shouting "Eat lead, slackers!!!". And in a later scene, back in 1955, Tolkan has another fun scene as Strickland, when he catches out the young Biff reading what appears to be the sports almanac, and he snatches it off him and says "You've got a real attitude problem, Tannen, you know that? And one day I will get you where I want you: in detention! SLACKER!!". And lastly there are some amusing brief roles from future actors such as Billy Zane, who plays a part of Biff's gang in 1955, Jason Scott-Lee who plays one of Griff's gang in the future, and Flea from the RHCP, who actually provides a good albeit brief performance as Needles, who taunts McFly by trying to get him involved in a dodgy business deal.
Also a last last last note, Crispin Glover did not reprise his role as George McFly though, as it was reported that he was not happy with the salary Zemeckis offered him for his return to the role and that the other actors got more than he did. So instead they cast Jeffrey Weissman to take over the role and they used a series of prosphetics such as a false chin and nose, as well as sunglasses to cover his eyes. Glover later as a result was not happy with the likeness of him in the film and he even filed a lawsuit against Zemeckis for the unlawful use of his image on screen, which lead to the creation of clauses in the Screen Actors Guild that prohibited the usage of methods to create the likeness of another actor.
Moving finally away from the performances onto the direction side of things, and Robert Zemeckis does another fine job here with Part II as he get's a bit more ambitious with the scope of the story, shifting between three different time periods, it allows for a change in the dynamics of the film as well. Zemeckis also makes good use of an at that time new technique in film making called digital compositing, as well as the Vista Glide camera control system, which is put to use in the scene where Michael is seen playing the three different versions of himself on screen at the same time, as well as the scenes where the older Biff meets his younger self. Alan Silvestri also reprises his duties as the film composer and he produces another good effort for Part II with some of Silvestri's usual rising passages of music until they hit a crescendo being put to use again.
So the flaws.... does Part II have any??? Well yes it does have one or two, for starters one of the things that might threaten to put off an audience about Part II is its somewhat intircate plot and perhaps there is too much to-ing and frowing going on. However for me that is part of the appeal of the film in that it makes you think about what the consequences of each action taken of Marty and Doc's time travels, but its somewhat convoluted story is probably what generally makes this the least favourite of the three films in the public's eyes. Another thing that does hinder the film somewhat is the poor effects make-up for Michael J. Fox and Elisabeth Shue as they both look pretty unconvincing as 47 year olds in the film and it always struck me as one of the weaker aspects of the film's otherwise excellent production. And it has to be said that some of the future scenes, especially the ones in Marty's future home feel a little bit too comical and superflous to the story, in which the only real relevant details are that Marty had an accident which changed his life and that he got fired from his job, but apart from that once Marty has stopped his son from going to jail and Biff stealing the time machine, you feel everything after that is a bit padded until we get to 1985.
Also a rather curious moment in the film is when the old Biff returns to the future after having stolen the time machine, he emerges from the time machine looking strained and in great pain as he pulls his cane out of the car and accidentally thwacks himself in the gut with it. This scene doesn't really make a whole lote of sense as to why Biff looked to be in pain, and the only thing I can think is that the changes he made in the past by giving the Almanac to his younger self probably had other consequences in the future and maybe the older Biff would cease to be as a result once he arrived back in 2015. And there was actually a deleted scene which was put in the DVD where we see Biff collapse and vanish, which would probably back this up. But in the context of the released version of the film whatever the reason, it is left unexplained and it remains the film's main plot hole.
But all that aside Back to the Future Part II is a very enjoyable and credible sequel to the first film and it is funny, intelligent and if you haven't seen in quite a while its well worth checking out again.
So next up is Part III......
Bye!
So the story begins right off after the end of the first film, where Marty (Michael J. Fox) now having made it back to 1985 and having successfully altered the timeline to get his parents back together. And the next morning, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) arrives in his Dolorean time machine and warns Marty that he needs to come with him to the future as there is something seriously wrong with in the future with his kids. Marty travels with the Doc, along with his girlfriend Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue) into the future in the year 2015, where the Doc tells Marty that he needs him to pose as his future son, Marty Jr (also Fox) in order to prevent his son from being involved in a robbery with Biff Tannen's grandson, Griff (also played by Thomas F. Wilson) which would eventually lead to his family's breakdown. Marty meets with Griff and turns down his involvement in the robbery, when Griff taunts him about being a chicken, Marty loses it and the two of them fight, with Marty fleeing in the same style as he did in the first film when the young Biff chased him. In the ensuing chase Marty manages to outwit Griff and his gang who end up being arrested by the police after crashing into the town courthouse. With Griff and his gang now arrested, Marty's future is now safe.
Marty however unwittingly complicates things when he a buys a sports alamac in a memorobilia shop, and the book itself contains the result of every major sporting event between 1950 and 2000. Marty however is soon caught out by the Doc, who warns him of the consequences of tampering with time and using the book would be very dangerous and convinces to dump in the trash, but Biff Tannen, now an elderly man in future, overhears their conversation and he ends up taking the discarded book. Biff then follows Marty and Doc to a housing complex where the police have taken Jennifer to her home in the future, who was rendered unconscious by the Doc earlier. Jennifer wakes up in her future home and hides just as she sees her future daughter (played by Fox!) and Marty's mother and Jennifer's future mother in law, Lorraine (Lea Thompson) arrive. Later on the future Marty, now aged 47, arrives home as well and he is soon persuaded into a shady business deal along with a business colleague of his, Needles (played by Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers). However Marty's supervisor having overheard the transmission calls up Marty and has him fired as a result. Jennifer eventually sneaks out the house but encounters her future self on the way out and they both pass out in shock at seeing each other, which let's the Doc take the young Jennifer back.
However in the meantime, the old Biff has stolen the Doc's time machine, but he arrives back just before the Doc and Marty reappear with Jennifer. When Marty and Doc arrive back in 1985, they drop off Jennifer at her home, and when Marty goes to his he finds the front door padlocked and he ends up going through his bedroom window only to find the house is now owned by a black family who chase him out. Marty soon realises something has gone awfully wrong in that Hill Valley has now been turned into chaos, and he stumbles upon finding that Biff, aged 47, is now wealthy and corrupt, and married to his mother, with his father George having died back in 1973. Marty meets up again with Doc who explains that the old Biff somehow managed to steal the time machine and travel back in time and gave the sports almanac to his younger self at some point in order for him to become wealthy. And in order for them to put things right again, they must find out where and when the old Biff went with the sports almanac. Marty then goes back to confront the Biff of 1985, who tells him he got the book from an old man back in November 12, 1955, and that the old Biff told him to kill anyone who tries to find out about the book, which leads Biff to try and kill Marty. Marty however soon manages to escape from Biff, who also admits to killing Marty's father, George, as the Doc arrives with the DeLorean up on the top of Biff's hotel, who knocks out Biff by opening the car door on his face. From here Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 where they must try and find a way to succeed in saving the future from falling into the hands of Biff Tannen.
As a sequel to the original, BTTF Part II is a very entertaining follow up and I would have to actually say it would be my second personal favourite of the three films. In Part II the plot is more convoluted but its also far more involving in that regard as well, as both Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale have created another very funny, witty and above all intelligent script which pokes fun at the themes of the first film and how even the Doc and Marty have to carefully tread around the timelines they have created in the different times. It also clevely recreates some of the scenarios of the first film such as Marty chasing Griff and his crew, in a similar way to the first when he chased Biff, as well as how Marty must sneak around his other self when he is at the Enchantment under the sea dance. Part II and III were also both shot back to back throughout 1989 so their release naturally followed one after the other with Part II in 1989 and III in 1990.
And while the film is a bit silly in its depiction of the future in some ways, in others it is actually spot on such as its take on technological advances. As a few examples in the film in the future Marty plays an old one armed bandit video game, with a handgun, where some young kids look on incredilously at how it involves having to use your hands, and now we have the Microsoft Kinect system used with the Xbox, which no longer requires a game pad. Other accurate predictions made shown in the film are the use of digital flat panel TVs, which we see in the scene in Marty's future home, where his son sits and watches 6 channels all at the same time, and also video internet chatting is displayed where Marty Sr talks with Needles over the shady business proposal. So in these regards Part II really was ahead of its time in its thinking and just maybe Zemeckis and Gale knew something we didn't! ;-)
Performance wise Part II is pretty good and the regular cast are all on form once again, with Michael J. Fox great once more as the young (and old!) Marty, who is thrown into sorting out his own future at the Doc's behest. Fox has several highlights in the film, especially in the scenes where we get to see him play his incompetent future son and also even his future daughter, as they are both so ridiculous! Fox as Marty's son also get's a hilarious moment where he meets with the young bully, Griff, who asks him if he is in or our for the robbery and Marty says "I don't know I think I should ask my father!". Also as Marty Jr, Fox uses a a line from Midnight Cowboy as a he walks onto the road a car toots its horn at him he shouts "Hey! I'm walking here!". Fox also has some fun with the character of Marty where he has to go back in time to 1955 and try and avoid coming into contact with his other self from that time at the school dance, when he is spotted by Biff's gang, he climbs up over the stage lighting rig above where his 1955 counterpart is playing guitar, and he drops sandbags onto Biff's gang, after this, Marty's other self moves behind the stage and looks confused at the unconscious bodies of the gang. This also leads into a funny scene where the young Biff taunts Marty and calls him a chicken, where Marty angrily turns to him and says "Nobody ever calls me chick....!" and his other self opens the door in Marty's face, knocking Marty sideways to the ground! Fox also has another funny moment where he wakes up in Biff's hotel room and he is comforted by his mum, who has had a breast enlargement done, and he says "But mom you're so... you're so.... big!". As the middle aged Marty, Fox has some funny moments where his elderly mother, Lorraine, makes dinner for them by taking a tiny frozen pizza which is placed in a special hydration microwave and she takes it out a few seconds later and its turned into a massive pizza. And as Lorraine serves it up Marty says "Oh maw, you sure know how to hydrate a pizza!". Also in the scene where the middle aged Marty talks to his co-worker Needles, who taunts him by calling him a chicken, he says "nobody calls me chicken, Needles! Nobody!!". This of course proves to be a running theme in Parts II and III where Marty reacts angrily to being called a chicken, which ultimately plays a key part in his future.
Christopher Lloyd is also great again as Doc Brown, and he has a gallon of lines to deliver, which he does in his own inimitable way at a frantic pace, with great energy. Lloyd has many highlights in the film and great dialogue, such as when they arrive in the future and after the Doc parks the DeLorean, the rain is still on and he looks at his watch and waits a few seconds then the rain goes off, "Right on the tick. Too bad the post office in the future isn't as efficient as the weather service!". And also a bit later on when the Doc warns Marty about young Griff "Oh and watch out for that Griff character, Marty. He's got a few short circuits in his bionic implants!". And on the revelation that Jennifer has been taken by the police, possibly back to her future home, he says the consequences could be disastrous: "I foresee two possibilities. One coming face to face with herself put her into shock and she'd simply pass out. Or two, the encounter could create a paradox, which would unravel the fabric of the space contium and destroy the universe! Granted that is the worst case scenario. The destruction might in fact might be localised, limited to merely our own galaxy!" which prompts "Well that's a relief!" from Marty. Lloyd also has a nice little scene where he accidentally bumps into himself from the past in 1955 when he encounters his other self set up the experiment for Marty to get back to 1985. And the Doc's other self asks for a wrench on a toolbox, which the Doc hands to him without looking and they talk about the weather quickly, and the Doc's other self says "Nice talkin to you. Maybe we might bump into each other again in the future." and the Doc slowly walks away saying "Or maybe the past!".
Thomas F. Wilson this time has a meatier role as Biff, and he does a great job in playing both the young, middle-aged and elderly Biff Tannen (as well as Grff!), with the middle aged one proving the most dangerous and villainous. Wilson has plenty of good moments himself, such as in the scene where the young Biff tries to woo Lorraine back in 1955 and he grabs her and says "When are you gonna get it into your thick skull, Lorraine, you're my girl!" and she tells him she would never be his girl, even if he had a million dollars, and she clubs him with the box for her dress and runs away. And Biff runs after her yelling "Yes you will! Its you and me, Lorraine! Its meant to be! I'm gonna marry you someday, Lorraine. Some day you will be my wife!!". Later on Wilson has a fun scene when his older self and younger self meet in 1955 and the old Biff gives the young one the Almanac and the young Biff says "Thank you so much, now why don't you make like a tree and get out of here" and the old Biff smacks him on the head and says "Leave! Make like a tree and leave! You sound like a damn fool when you get it wrong!". And the middle aged Biff also has some good lines such as when he first storms into his hotel room and finds Marty there and shouts at him "You're supposed to be in Switzerland you little son of a bitch!". Wilson has some funny moments as Griff, Biff's young grandson, such as when he meets Marty, after having subdued the younger Marty Jr, Marty pushes him back and Griff says "Well! Since when did you become the physical type?!". and as Marty says no to Griff's proposition, Griff says "What's wrong, McFly?? Chicken???" and one of his gang plays the sound of a chicken.
Lea Thompson is also really good again in her role as Lorraine, who also has fun in playing the young, middle aged and elderly Lorraine. Although her eldlerly take on Lorraine is a bit of comical and its really the middle aged Lorraine that lends a bit more gravitas to her performance as a woman forced into a loveless marriage. Lea does also get something good lines in her role as Lorraine, particularly in her middle aged role as Biff threatens to cut off her money and he says "who's gonna pay for your cosmetic surgery, Lorraine?!" and she turns and says "You're the one that wanted me to get those things! You wan't em back? You can have them!". Also in the scene where she parks with Marty in the car before the school dance, she says to Marty in the car "When I have kids one day they can have anything, anything they want" and he quitely says "I'd like to have that in writing!".
In the supporting cast, Elisabeth Shue does a good job at filling in for Claudia Wells, who was in the first film but was unable to continue due to personal circumstances with her family. Elisabeth although ultimately has a rather small role, but her best scene comes when she comes face to face with her future self and they both look at each other and screams out "I'm old/I'm young!" at one another before passing out. And in the scene prior to that, while in her future house she sees a cheesy wedding picture of her and Marty which says "Chapel o Love" and she says "I get married in the Chapel o Love??? I gotta get out of here!". James Tolkan reprises his role as Mr Strickland and he is hilarious in this film as he is given a slightly bigger role and some great dialogue. Tolkan's best scene is in the alternate 1985 where he encounters Marty on his porch and he is armed with a shotgun and he says to Marty who tells he gave him detention just last week "The school burned down six years ago. Now you've got exactly three seconds to get off my porch with your nuts in tact!". After this a gang do a drive-by shooting on his house and Strickland runs after them shouting "Eat lead, slackers!!!". And in a later scene, back in 1955, Tolkan has another fun scene as Strickland, when he catches out the young Biff reading what appears to be the sports almanac, and he snatches it off him and says "You've got a real attitude problem, Tannen, you know that? And one day I will get you where I want you: in detention! SLACKER!!". And lastly there are some amusing brief roles from future actors such as Billy Zane, who plays a part of Biff's gang in 1955, Jason Scott-Lee who plays one of Griff's gang in the future, and Flea from the RHCP, who actually provides a good albeit brief performance as Needles, who taunts McFly by trying to get him involved in a dodgy business deal.
Also a last last last note, Crispin Glover did not reprise his role as George McFly though, as it was reported that he was not happy with the salary Zemeckis offered him for his return to the role and that the other actors got more than he did. So instead they cast Jeffrey Weissman to take over the role and they used a series of prosphetics such as a false chin and nose, as well as sunglasses to cover his eyes. Glover later as a result was not happy with the likeness of him in the film and he even filed a lawsuit against Zemeckis for the unlawful use of his image on screen, which lead to the creation of clauses in the Screen Actors Guild that prohibited the usage of methods to create the likeness of another actor.
Moving finally away from the performances onto the direction side of things, and Robert Zemeckis does another fine job here with Part II as he get's a bit more ambitious with the scope of the story, shifting between three different time periods, it allows for a change in the dynamics of the film as well. Zemeckis also makes good use of an at that time new technique in film making called digital compositing, as well as the Vista Glide camera control system, which is put to use in the scene where Michael is seen playing the three different versions of himself on screen at the same time, as well as the scenes where the older Biff meets his younger self. Alan Silvestri also reprises his duties as the film composer and he produces another good effort for Part II with some of Silvestri's usual rising passages of music until they hit a crescendo being put to use again.
So the flaws.... does Part II have any??? Well yes it does have one or two, for starters one of the things that might threaten to put off an audience about Part II is its somewhat intircate plot and perhaps there is too much to-ing and frowing going on. However for me that is part of the appeal of the film in that it makes you think about what the consequences of each action taken of Marty and Doc's time travels, but its somewhat convoluted story is probably what generally makes this the least favourite of the three films in the public's eyes. Another thing that does hinder the film somewhat is the poor effects make-up for Michael J. Fox and Elisabeth Shue as they both look pretty unconvincing as 47 year olds in the film and it always struck me as one of the weaker aspects of the film's otherwise excellent production. And it has to be said that some of the future scenes, especially the ones in Marty's future home feel a little bit too comical and superflous to the story, in which the only real relevant details are that Marty had an accident which changed his life and that he got fired from his job, but apart from that once Marty has stopped his son from going to jail and Biff stealing the time machine, you feel everything after that is a bit padded until we get to 1985.
Also a rather curious moment in the film is when the old Biff returns to the future after having stolen the time machine, he emerges from the time machine looking strained and in great pain as he pulls his cane out of the car and accidentally thwacks himself in the gut with it. This scene doesn't really make a whole lote of sense as to why Biff looked to be in pain, and the only thing I can think is that the changes he made in the past by giving the Almanac to his younger self probably had other consequences in the future and maybe the older Biff would cease to be as a result once he arrived back in 2015. And there was actually a deleted scene which was put in the DVD where we see Biff collapse and vanish, which would probably back this up. But in the context of the released version of the film whatever the reason, it is left unexplained and it remains the film's main plot hole.
But all that aside Back to the Future Part II is a very enjoyable and credible sequel to the first film and it is funny, intelligent and if you haven't seen in quite a while its well worth checking out again.
So next up is Part III......
Bye!
Khamis, 5 Disember 2013
Back to the future Part 1: Great Scott!
Sooo its time for another review and this one is an a rather famous trilogy known as Back to the Future, so over the next three posts (including this one!) I will cover all three parts of the Back to the Future trilogy. And as it will be done chronologically, why not start with the first one.....
OK so to get on with the plot we all know about it already but let's look: the film is set in Hill Valley, California in the year 1985 and the main character is Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) who lives with his family. Marty's family include his cowardly father, George (Crispin Glover), his out of shape mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) who is a drinker, and his two older siblings Dave and Linda who are both underachievers. At dinner Lorraine recalls how she first met George when her father hit him with his car and she soon fell in love with him. Later that night, Marty receives a phone call from his friend, Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) who tells he needs his help with an experiment down at a deserted shopping mall. The Doc reveals that he has built a time machine into a DeLorean and he sets an experiment where the car travels fast up to 88mph and when it does it transports itself forward in time, arriving back a minute later. The Doc explains in order for time travel to be possible he created the flux capacitor and he uses plutonium to channel 1.21 gigawatts of power into the car so it can transport it through time. As the Doc prepares to leave for a trip, having set in November 5, 1955 (as an example date of when he first had the idea for the flux capacitor) a group of Libyan terrorists arrive and shoot him (as he stole the plutonium from them). And Marty narrowly escapes in the DeLorean and as he speeds away from them, the car's speedometer clocks 88mph and he is transported back in time to 1955.
In 1955, Marty hides the car but discovers that there is no more plutonium for him to return back to the future. On exploring his surroundings of Hill Valley in 1955 he enters a diner and finds himself sitting next to his future father, George, who is a teenager at this time. George is bullied by Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) who demands that he do his homework for him and tells him never to come back into the diner. As Marty follows George, he saves him from being hit by a car, belonging to Lorraine's dad, and he himself is knocked out by impact. Marty wakes up in Lorraine's room and its obvious from here that she has fallen for Marty instead of George, and he eventually excuses himself and leaves. Marty soon finds the Doc's house, who is now a younger man, and he tells him about the flux capacitor and takes him to see the DeLorean, convinced that he is genuine by this, the Doc helps to try and get home. However during the playback of Marty's videotape of the Doc in 1985, he hears him say 1.21 gigwatts and he says there is simply no way to generate that power, other than a bolt of lightning. Marty realising he was given a flyer in his own time which is donated to the cause to save the clock tower, shows the Doc that the clock tower will be struck by lightning on 12 November 1955. However in the meantime, Marty shows the Doc the picture of him and his two siblings, which shows that as a result of Marty's intefering with his parents first meeting that it will threaten his future existance and if he doesn't get George together with Lorraine then Marty will cease to have ever existed. And this is where the real battle against time starts with Marty and the Doc trying to find a way for his parents to get together and for him to get back to the future....
The appeal of Back to the Future nearly 30 years later is still undeniable and it still remains a really charming, funny and intelligent science fiction comedy film. Bob Zemeckis, the director and co-writer Bob Gale came up with the idea initially together from two different ideas they had of what if both their own parents had different personalities if they were alive at the time before they were born and they discovered what they could have been like. The film itself took five years to finally get made as Zemeckis and Gale had written several drafts of the script and taken it to different film studios who all turned it down, but Zemeckis eventually got Steven Spielberg's backing after his success with Romancing the stone. The film also is undoubtedly very creative in how it deals with the whole time travel concept and it actually does it better than most films of its kind, in that the events that affect us in the past will shape our future. This is well demonstrated of course where Marty realises that his actions in saving George from being hit by the car will eventually lead to his own demise if he doesn't somehow get George and Lorraine together. The film also pokes fun at some of the old sci-fi comics of the period, and we see Marty in his radiation suit as he arrives in 1955, he exists a barn of a family who think him to be from outer space! But it also looks at the themes of courage, love, fear and what could have been if things didn't pan out the way they could have, although ultimately the changes Marty makes in the film eventually turn out in a way he never expected either!
So as for the performances they are all excellent, starting with Martin J. Fox who is perfect in his role as the young, genial and plucky Marty McFly, who unlike the rest of his family has drive and ambition to do something with his life. Fox was originally set to be cast in the film but his contractual obligations to the hit TV show, Family Ties, meant he was unable to be cast in the role. As a result Eric Stoltz was cast in the role, but Zemeckis felt after a few weeks he wasn't right for the role and he eventually managed to secure Fox for the part. Fox has several highlights in the film such as the memorable opening scene where Marty enters the Doc's garage, which is filled gadgets of all sorts, and he plugs his guitar into a power amplifier system, but as he plucks the strings the system overloads and blasts Marty back against the wall! Also later in the scene where the school's discipline officer, Mr Strickland (brilliantly played by James Tolkan) berates Marty for being late and he says to him "No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley!" and Marty says "Well history is gonna change". Fox also has some fun moments with Crispin Glover as George, where he has to try and hide that he is his father such as after Marty runs after George when he leaves the diner and he shouts "Hey, dad! George! You on the bike!". And later when he tries to help George build up the courage to ask out Lorraine, Marty says to him "Jesus, George, it was a wonder I was even born!". Also later when Marty in the past with the Doc goes to the school and finds out that Lorraine has fallen for him he says "Wait a minute, Doc, are you trying to tell me my mother has the hots for me??! Woa, this is heavy!". Another highlight is of course where he plays Johnny B Goode at the prom dance and he get's a bit too carried away with himself and the crowd and the band all stop and look aghast, and he quietly gets up and says "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it!". Also as Marty and the Doc arrive at the school and the Doc asks which one is George, and Marty points out George who is being bullied and kicked by two boys, and the Doc says "What did your mother ever see in that kid??" and Marty says "I don't know. I guess mom just felt sorry for him as her dad hit him with the car." and then it dawns him he has changed events "He hit me with the car!".
Christopher Lloyd is also great as Doc Brown, the eccentric scientist, who creates a time machine out of a DoLorean car and he has a nice friendship with Marty as it progresses throughout the trilogy. Lloyd quite a few standout scenes such as where in the past he first meets Marty and is incredilous at first of his theory of being from the future, and he says "Tell me future boy, who is the president of the United States in 1985?" and Marty replies "Ronald Reagen!" leaving the Doc astonished "Ronald Reagen??? The actor????!". Also later when he plays back the video of himself saying how much energy he needs to power the time machine, the Doc goes ballistic "1.21 GIGAWATTS???????! 1.21 Gigawatts???? Great Scott!!!". Lloyd's Doc of 1955 also provides some funny lines due to his overly scientific and logical nature and how he fails to get some of Marty's figure of speech, such as when Marty says the situation is heavy, and the Doc says "Weight has nothing to do with it!" and "There is that word again "heavy". Where are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull???". And also when at the school the Doc sees the poster the Enchantment under the sea school dance, and the Doc says "Look! There is a ryhthmic ceremonial riutal coming up!". Also in his first scene where he says to Marty as he is about to rev up the DeLorean by remote control "If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88mph, you're gonna see some serious shit!". Also near the end of the film Lloyd has another nice moment with Fox, as the Doc is gunned down by the Libyans as Marty goes over to him afterward, the Doc appears to lie dead, with Marty sobbing, the Doc suddenly opens his eye and he then hands him the letter that Marty wrote him 30 years earlier. And Marty looks at the letter (which was taped back together as the Doc has torn it up back in 1955) and he says "What was all that you said about future events and screwing up the space time continium?" and the Doc smiles "Well I figured... what the hell?!".
Lea Thompson is also very good as both the middle aged Lorraine at 47, and the young Lorraine aged 17. And the most amusing thing about Lea's performance is the contrast between the two characters of the aged out of shape mother and the young promiscious girl, who ends up falling for her future son! Thompson has some funny moments in the film, such as in her first scene with Marty as she keeps calling Marty "Calvin" as he is wearing Calvin Klein underwear! Also later on in the scene where Marty stages out his plan for George to get together with Lorraine, it backfires a bit when Marty takes Lorraine to the dance and they park the car and as he sees her smokes and take a drink he says "Jesus, you smoke too?!!" and she says "Marty you are beginning to sound just like my mother!". Also in the next scene where Lorraine kisses Marty, she pulls back as she realises something doesn't feel right and she says "This is all wrong. I don't know what it is, but when I kiss you its like I'm kissing my brother!".
Thomas F. Wilson is also excellent as the bully, Biff Tannen, who is even meaner in his younger years back in 1955 as he bullies and torments George and tries to forcefully woo Lorraine as well. Wilson get's some good scenes, one as such is where Marty confronts him in the school canteen and Biff smiles at Marty and says "Cos you're new here, I'm gonna cut you a break. So why don't you make like a tree and get out of here!". And of course his classic line is when he bullies George in 1985 and in 1955 and with Marty present at both times, he just stares at Biff who turns and says "What are you lookin at, butthead??!". Crispin Glover is also good in his role as the cowardly George, although his make-up as an older man isn't quite so convincing! Glover (who resembles Doctor Who's Matt Smith somewhat I have to say) has some good moments in the film, such as in the scene where he summons up all his courage to go over and chat to Lorraine in the diner. Marty feeds George some lines he can say such as "tell her your her destiny" and he goes over to her and says "Lorraine, my density has popped me to you! I'm George McFly. I'm your density! I.. I mean your destiny". Also he amusing scene prior to that where Marty is dressed up in his radiation suit, who sneaks into George's bedroom, puts the headphones on a tape of Van Halen blaring out a full volume, which has him leap out of bed!! And in the next scene he says to Marty "Last night Darth Vader came down from Vulcan and he said if I don't ask out Lorraine, he's gonna melt my brain!".
In supporting roles James Tolkan is also great in his role as the discplinarian school officer, Mr Strickland, who is at the same high school even 30 years earlier, and he says to George "You are a slacker! Do you want to be a slacker the rest of your life???!". And when Marty is back in 1955 and he sees Strickland is still bald he says, "That Strickland??? Jesus, did that guy ever have any hair?!". And in his first scene where he hands out tardy slips to Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer he says to him "I noticed your band is on the roster for the dance auditions after school. Why even bother, McFly? You don't have a chance. You're too much like your old man! No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley!". And lastly I will mention Claudia Wells as Jennifer, Marty's girlfriend, whom comforts Marty after his rejection at the band auditions for the school, and he says how his mum said she never did anything when she was younger he says "I think she was just born a nun!" and she says "She's just trying to keep you respectable!". And later at the end of the film when Marty sees her in front of his newly bought and paid for jeep (due to changing the timeline, George is now a confident and successful sci-fi writer) he says to her "you are a sight for sore eyes!" and she says "Marty you are behaving like you haven't seen me for a week!" and he says "I haven't!". Wells however unfortunately was not able to reprise her role as Jennifer as her mother was diagnosed with cancer at the time of the sequels being made.
Which brings on to the director, Bob Zemeckis, who does a wonderful job with Back to the Future as he provides plenty of charm, fun and suspense along the way and he keeps the pace of the film pretty tight as at just under two hours it never lags. The film also has a memorable music score written by Alan Silvestri, which is at times a bit overbearing in the way it keeps rising into dramatic crescendos, but its main theme is well worth remembering and to this day is instantly recognisible as well hummable! And the film also features two great tracks from Huey Lewis and the News, "The Power of Love" and "Back in Time".
So after all this, does Back to the Future have any flaws????? Well it doesn't really have too many, as it is a really well written and crafted film which has also really well though out the logistics involved in time travel. Although one or two things do springs to mind, first off, why is that George and Lorraine never seem to mention or pay homage to Marty, as years later after Marty helps get them together, but in the end they put it down to Biff, but excuse me, it was Marty that went and helped George out and he even thanks him for giving him the advice after the dance and how "he will never forget it" well he clearly did forget in 1985 that he had the help of a young guy at the same time called Marty!! Its also bizarre that Marty would wake up in the altered 1985 and his parents see him that they don't put two and two together that he is the dead spit of the kid who helped them back in 1955! Or am I just looking into things just a bit too much here????
I also felt the scene near the beginning where the Doc and Marty watch the DeLorean disappear and makes it maiden travel through time that when we see the large pair of flame trails left behind, I find it amazing that the trails doing end up setting Marty and Doc on fire as they are pretty big! Also the scene where Marty manages to travel forward in time to 1985 with the Doc's help and the Doc manages to connect the conducting cables just in time as the lightning bolt strikes the tower, the lightning surge hits while he has just finished making the connection, and surely that would have fried him!! But again it is just a film and of course the Doc was wearing some gloves at the time so just maybe they were shield proof from the lightning! I mean if the guy can build a time machine he can surely build some lightning proof gloves as well! ;-)
Another niggle was one that was actually raised by Dr Michio Kaku, a professor in theoretical physics, who made a short feature on the science behind the time travel of the trilogy and how it is sound, what isn't is that it would take ALOT more than 1.21 gigwatts of power to make time travel possible! Kaku also makes an interesting point in how Doc Brown's usage of the fusion reactor at the end of the film to power the time machine is ridiculous, as presently fusion reactors in reality are the size of a football pitch, but somehow the Doc manages to build a small one into a DeLorean harnessing the same power! But then again it is a Hollywood film and perhaps Zemeckis and Gale weren't prepared to delve too deeply into it and Doc Brown is a genius after all so he most likely found a way to defy or even enhance the laws of physics in order to make it possible in the first place!
So all that aside Back to the Future to this day is still a highly entertaining, charming, funny and intelligent sci-fi comedy which warrants repeated viewings and if you haven't seen it in a while, I'd recommend to give it another whirl.
So with that I shall see you later and cue part II.....
OK so to get on with the plot we all know about it already but let's look: the film is set in Hill Valley, California in the year 1985 and the main character is Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) who lives with his family. Marty's family include his cowardly father, George (Crispin Glover), his out of shape mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) who is a drinker, and his two older siblings Dave and Linda who are both underachievers. At dinner Lorraine recalls how she first met George when her father hit him with his car and she soon fell in love with him. Later that night, Marty receives a phone call from his friend, Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) who tells he needs his help with an experiment down at a deserted shopping mall. The Doc reveals that he has built a time machine into a DeLorean and he sets an experiment where the car travels fast up to 88mph and when it does it transports itself forward in time, arriving back a minute later. The Doc explains in order for time travel to be possible he created the flux capacitor and he uses plutonium to channel 1.21 gigawatts of power into the car so it can transport it through time. As the Doc prepares to leave for a trip, having set in November 5, 1955 (as an example date of when he first had the idea for the flux capacitor) a group of Libyan terrorists arrive and shoot him (as he stole the plutonium from them). And Marty narrowly escapes in the DeLorean and as he speeds away from them, the car's speedometer clocks 88mph and he is transported back in time to 1955.
In 1955, Marty hides the car but discovers that there is no more plutonium for him to return back to the future. On exploring his surroundings of Hill Valley in 1955 he enters a diner and finds himself sitting next to his future father, George, who is a teenager at this time. George is bullied by Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) who demands that he do his homework for him and tells him never to come back into the diner. As Marty follows George, he saves him from being hit by a car, belonging to Lorraine's dad, and he himself is knocked out by impact. Marty wakes up in Lorraine's room and its obvious from here that she has fallen for Marty instead of George, and he eventually excuses himself and leaves. Marty soon finds the Doc's house, who is now a younger man, and he tells him about the flux capacitor and takes him to see the DeLorean, convinced that he is genuine by this, the Doc helps to try and get home. However during the playback of Marty's videotape of the Doc in 1985, he hears him say 1.21 gigwatts and he says there is simply no way to generate that power, other than a bolt of lightning. Marty realising he was given a flyer in his own time which is donated to the cause to save the clock tower, shows the Doc that the clock tower will be struck by lightning on 12 November 1955. However in the meantime, Marty shows the Doc the picture of him and his two siblings, which shows that as a result of Marty's intefering with his parents first meeting that it will threaten his future existance and if he doesn't get George together with Lorraine then Marty will cease to have ever existed. And this is where the real battle against time starts with Marty and the Doc trying to find a way for his parents to get together and for him to get back to the future....
The appeal of Back to the Future nearly 30 years later is still undeniable and it still remains a really charming, funny and intelligent science fiction comedy film. Bob Zemeckis, the director and co-writer Bob Gale came up with the idea initially together from two different ideas they had of what if both their own parents had different personalities if they were alive at the time before they were born and they discovered what they could have been like. The film itself took five years to finally get made as Zemeckis and Gale had written several drafts of the script and taken it to different film studios who all turned it down, but Zemeckis eventually got Steven Spielberg's backing after his success with Romancing the stone. The film also is undoubtedly very creative in how it deals with the whole time travel concept and it actually does it better than most films of its kind, in that the events that affect us in the past will shape our future. This is well demonstrated of course where Marty realises that his actions in saving George from being hit by the car will eventually lead to his own demise if he doesn't somehow get George and Lorraine together. The film also pokes fun at some of the old sci-fi comics of the period, and we see Marty in his radiation suit as he arrives in 1955, he exists a barn of a family who think him to be from outer space! But it also looks at the themes of courage, love, fear and what could have been if things didn't pan out the way they could have, although ultimately the changes Marty makes in the film eventually turn out in a way he never expected either!
So as for the performances they are all excellent, starting with Martin J. Fox who is perfect in his role as the young, genial and plucky Marty McFly, who unlike the rest of his family has drive and ambition to do something with his life. Fox was originally set to be cast in the film but his contractual obligations to the hit TV show, Family Ties, meant he was unable to be cast in the role. As a result Eric Stoltz was cast in the role, but Zemeckis felt after a few weeks he wasn't right for the role and he eventually managed to secure Fox for the part. Fox has several highlights in the film such as the memorable opening scene where Marty enters the Doc's garage, which is filled gadgets of all sorts, and he plugs his guitar into a power amplifier system, but as he plucks the strings the system overloads and blasts Marty back against the wall! Also later in the scene where the school's discipline officer, Mr Strickland (brilliantly played by James Tolkan) berates Marty for being late and he says to him "No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley!" and Marty says "Well history is gonna change". Fox also has some fun moments with Crispin Glover as George, where he has to try and hide that he is his father such as after Marty runs after George when he leaves the diner and he shouts "Hey, dad! George! You on the bike!". And later when he tries to help George build up the courage to ask out Lorraine, Marty says to him "Jesus, George, it was a wonder I was even born!". Also later when Marty in the past with the Doc goes to the school and finds out that Lorraine has fallen for him he says "Wait a minute, Doc, are you trying to tell me my mother has the hots for me??! Woa, this is heavy!". Another highlight is of course where he plays Johnny B Goode at the prom dance and he get's a bit too carried away with himself and the crowd and the band all stop and look aghast, and he quietly gets up and says "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it!". Also as Marty and the Doc arrive at the school and the Doc asks which one is George, and Marty points out George who is being bullied and kicked by two boys, and the Doc says "What did your mother ever see in that kid??" and Marty says "I don't know. I guess mom just felt sorry for him as her dad hit him with the car." and then it dawns him he has changed events "He hit me with the car!".
Christopher Lloyd is also great as Doc Brown, the eccentric scientist, who creates a time machine out of a DoLorean car and he has a nice friendship with Marty as it progresses throughout the trilogy. Lloyd quite a few standout scenes such as where in the past he first meets Marty and is incredilous at first of his theory of being from the future, and he says "Tell me future boy, who is the president of the United States in 1985?" and Marty replies "Ronald Reagen!" leaving the Doc astonished "Ronald Reagen??? The actor????!". Also later when he plays back the video of himself saying how much energy he needs to power the time machine, the Doc goes ballistic "1.21 GIGAWATTS???????! 1.21 Gigawatts???? Great Scott!!!". Lloyd's Doc of 1955 also provides some funny lines due to his overly scientific and logical nature and how he fails to get some of Marty's figure of speech, such as when Marty says the situation is heavy, and the Doc says "Weight has nothing to do with it!" and "There is that word again "heavy". Where are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull???". And also when at the school the Doc sees the poster the Enchantment under the sea school dance, and the Doc says "Look! There is a ryhthmic ceremonial riutal coming up!". Also in his first scene where he says to Marty as he is about to rev up the DeLorean by remote control "If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88mph, you're gonna see some serious shit!". Also near the end of the film Lloyd has another nice moment with Fox, as the Doc is gunned down by the Libyans as Marty goes over to him afterward, the Doc appears to lie dead, with Marty sobbing, the Doc suddenly opens his eye and he then hands him the letter that Marty wrote him 30 years earlier. And Marty looks at the letter (which was taped back together as the Doc has torn it up back in 1955) and he says "What was all that you said about future events and screwing up the space time continium?" and the Doc smiles "Well I figured... what the hell?!".
Lea Thompson is also very good as both the middle aged Lorraine at 47, and the young Lorraine aged 17. And the most amusing thing about Lea's performance is the contrast between the two characters of the aged out of shape mother and the young promiscious girl, who ends up falling for her future son! Thompson has some funny moments in the film, such as in her first scene with Marty as she keeps calling Marty "Calvin" as he is wearing Calvin Klein underwear! Also later on in the scene where Marty stages out his plan for George to get together with Lorraine, it backfires a bit when Marty takes Lorraine to the dance and they park the car and as he sees her smokes and take a drink he says "Jesus, you smoke too?!!" and she says "Marty you are beginning to sound just like my mother!". Also in the next scene where Lorraine kisses Marty, she pulls back as she realises something doesn't feel right and she says "This is all wrong. I don't know what it is, but when I kiss you its like I'm kissing my brother!".
Thomas F. Wilson is also excellent as the bully, Biff Tannen, who is even meaner in his younger years back in 1955 as he bullies and torments George and tries to forcefully woo Lorraine as well. Wilson get's some good scenes, one as such is where Marty confronts him in the school canteen and Biff smiles at Marty and says "Cos you're new here, I'm gonna cut you a break. So why don't you make like a tree and get out of here!". And of course his classic line is when he bullies George in 1985 and in 1955 and with Marty present at both times, he just stares at Biff who turns and says "What are you lookin at, butthead??!". Crispin Glover is also good in his role as the cowardly George, although his make-up as an older man isn't quite so convincing! Glover (who resembles Doctor Who's Matt Smith somewhat I have to say) has some good moments in the film, such as in the scene where he summons up all his courage to go over and chat to Lorraine in the diner. Marty feeds George some lines he can say such as "tell her your her destiny" and he goes over to her and says "Lorraine, my density has popped me to you! I'm George McFly. I'm your density! I.. I mean your destiny". Also he amusing scene prior to that where Marty is dressed up in his radiation suit, who sneaks into George's bedroom, puts the headphones on a tape of Van Halen blaring out a full volume, which has him leap out of bed!! And in the next scene he says to Marty "Last night Darth Vader came down from Vulcan and he said if I don't ask out Lorraine, he's gonna melt my brain!".
In supporting roles James Tolkan is also great in his role as the discplinarian school officer, Mr Strickland, who is at the same high school even 30 years earlier, and he says to George "You are a slacker! Do you want to be a slacker the rest of your life???!". And when Marty is back in 1955 and he sees Strickland is still bald he says, "That Strickland??? Jesus, did that guy ever have any hair?!". And in his first scene where he hands out tardy slips to Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer he says to him "I noticed your band is on the roster for the dance auditions after school. Why even bother, McFly? You don't have a chance. You're too much like your old man! No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley!". And lastly I will mention Claudia Wells as Jennifer, Marty's girlfriend, whom comforts Marty after his rejection at the band auditions for the school, and he says how his mum said she never did anything when she was younger he says "I think she was just born a nun!" and she says "She's just trying to keep you respectable!". And later at the end of the film when Marty sees her in front of his newly bought and paid for jeep (due to changing the timeline, George is now a confident and successful sci-fi writer) he says to her "you are a sight for sore eyes!" and she says "Marty you are behaving like you haven't seen me for a week!" and he says "I haven't!". Wells however unfortunately was not able to reprise her role as Jennifer as her mother was diagnosed with cancer at the time of the sequels being made.
Which brings on to the director, Bob Zemeckis, who does a wonderful job with Back to the Future as he provides plenty of charm, fun and suspense along the way and he keeps the pace of the film pretty tight as at just under two hours it never lags. The film also has a memorable music score written by Alan Silvestri, which is at times a bit overbearing in the way it keeps rising into dramatic crescendos, but its main theme is well worth remembering and to this day is instantly recognisible as well hummable! And the film also features two great tracks from Huey Lewis and the News, "The Power of Love" and "Back in Time".
So after all this, does Back to the Future have any flaws????? Well it doesn't really have too many, as it is a really well written and crafted film which has also really well though out the logistics involved in time travel. Although one or two things do springs to mind, first off, why is that George and Lorraine never seem to mention or pay homage to Marty, as years later after Marty helps get them together, but in the end they put it down to Biff, but excuse me, it was Marty that went and helped George out and he even thanks him for giving him the advice after the dance and how "he will never forget it" well he clearly did forget in 1985 that he had the help of a young guy at the same time called Marty!! Its also bizarre that Marty would wake up in the altered 1985 and his parents see him that they don't put two and two together that he is the dead spit of the kid who helped them back in 1955! Or am I just looking into things just a bit too much here????
I also felt the scene near the beginning where the Doc and Marty watch the DeLorean disappear and makes it maiden travel through time that when we see the large pair of flame trails left behind, I find it amazing that the trails doing end up setting Marty and Doc on fire as they are pretty big! Also the scene where Marty manages to travel forward in time to 1985 with the Doc's help and the Doc manages to connect the conducting cables just in time as the lightning bolt strikes the tower, the lightning surge hits while he has just finished making the connection, and surely that would have fried him!! But again it is just a film and of course the Doc was wearing some gloves at the time so just maybe they were shield proof from the lightning! I mean if the guy can build a time machine he can surely build some lightning proof gloves as well! ;-)
Another niggle was one that was actually raised by Dr Michio Kaku, a professor in theoretical physics, who made a short feature on the science behind the time travel of the trilogy and how it is sound, what isn't is that it would take ALOT more than 1.21 gigwatts of power to make time travel possible! Kaku also makes an interesting point in how Doc Brown's usage of the fusion reactor at the end of the film to power the time machine is ridiculous, as presently fusion reactors in reality are the size of a football pitch, but somehow the Doc manages to build a small one into a DeLorean harnessing the same power! But then again it is a Hollywood film and perhaps Zemeckis and Gale weren't prepared to delve too deeply into it and Doc Brown is a genius after all so he most likely found a way to defy or even enhance the laws of physics in order to make it possible in the first place!
So all that aside Back to the Future to this day is still a highly entertaining, charming, funny and intelligent sci-fi comedy which warrants repeated viewings and if you haven't seen it in a while, I'd recommend to give it another whirl.
So with that I shall see you later and cue part II.....
Isnin, 2 Disember 2013
The World's End
OK its now finally December, the last month of the year and with only four weeks left of the year, I thought its time do another post. And this one will be on the sci-fi comedy World's End, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. So with that let's give this one a look...
The film starts with its main characer, Gary King (Simon Pegg) an alcoholic, who reminisces of the days of his youth when he tried to do a pub crawl with his mates in his home town of Newton Haven 20 years ago. The pub crawl consisted of visiting all 12 pubs in the area, however Gary failed to complete the crawl and now he wants to get back in touch with his old friends to complete the quest. Gary eventually persuades his old friends to meet up and do the crawl, which consist of Andy Knightley (Nick Frost), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), Oliver "O-Man" Chamberlain (Martin Freeman) and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan). However as they all arrive in Newton Haven all is not what it seems as after a few pubs, Gary get's into a fight with a teenager, who is surprisingly strong, but Gary knocks his head off to reveal that the teenager is a robot. Gary friends soon join him in the toilet as more robots arrive they fight them off and afterwards decide to carry on with the crawl to avoid suspicion.
On the way Gary also bumps into Sam (Rosamund Pike), Oliver's sister, who Gary and Steven have rival affections for. Gary warns Sam to leave town who is at first sceptical until her two friends are revealed to be robots, whom Gary destroys. As the pub crawl progresses they go to a pub where they meet with one of their former teachers, Guy Shepherd (Pierce Brosnan) who turns out to be a robot, who tells them to accept their fate and let themselves be robotised. However Gary soon notices that Oliver's birthmark on his head is no longer there and he crushes his head, revealing him to be a robot, after which a big fight ensues, and Gary and the others scatter, and he persuades Sam to leave town, who drives off in her car. And from here its all down to Gary to try and fight off the robot invasion and save the town, himself and his friends.
As a part of what is now called the Three Flavour Cornetto trilogy (along with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), The World's End is quite an entertaining film but it isn't quite in the same league as Edgar Wright's first two films. The idea of the World's End is actually a good one, and while robot invasions are nothing new, Pegg, Frost and Wright all do a good job in putting it on the big screen. And the film also has a rather poignant ending with a surprise twist which I won't give away which is worth watching for. Wright also again uses the theme of the "locals" as being quite sinister, as he did so well with Shaun of the dead and Hot Fuzz, where in a small town not everything is as it seems.
So as for the performances they are all pretty good, with Simon Pegg doing a fine job as the self centred, egomaniac drunkard, Gary King, who is determined to complete his pub crawl, but instead has to fight for his life and humanity instead. Pegg get's some funny lines of dialogue, one of my favourites of which is when he berates the alien Network, who controls the robots, near the end of the film by saying "Get back in your rocket, and fuck off back to Legoland you c****!!". Also another is when he sits in the first pub shocked at his friend, Andy, who is teetotal and he orders a glass of water, leaving Gary outraged saying "A man of your legendary prowess drinking fucking rain! Its like a lion eating homous!". Also a scene where he responds to Oliver's annoying habit of abbreviating "what the fuck" to WTF and Gary angrily asks "What the fuck does WTF mean???!".
Nick Frost is also really good as Gary's best friend, Andy, who was once a big drinker as a youth, but is now a buttoned down accountant, until he get's caught up in the robot invasion, and as he starts fighting its not long before he starts to drink shots! Frost has some good dialogue as well and one which springs to mind is when he speaks out to the Network (voiced by Bill Nighy) as he defends Gary saying "Hey who put you in charge? Hey who are you to criticise anyone? Now, you may think Gary is a bit of a cock, and he is a bit of a cock, but he's my cock!". Martin Freeman is also really good in his role as the suave Oliver, a yuppie estate agent, who eventually ends up getting taken over by the robots and he spends the second half of the film without most of his head! And not to give too much away but at the end of the film we see the robotic Oliver give a couple a tour of a dilapidated house, and he has a used football with a couple of eyeholes cut out to substitute for his cracked head!
Paddy Considine is slightly sidelined in his role as Steven Prince, but being the excellent actor that he is, he does a fine job with the role, as one of the Gary's friends who comes along for the crawl and ends up having to fight the robots. Paddy isn't given his lion share of the funny lines, but one I liked was after they fight the first robots, Steve says "Ten people have entered this toilet in the last five minutes and not a single on has come back out again. That's going to look suspicious" after which Gary crudely says "Gay love!". Eddie Marsan is also pretty good in his role as the cowardly Peter Page who was the victim of bullying when growing up and he ends up hiding under the tables during the fight scenes against the robots. Rosamund Pike is also good as Sam, whom Gary once had a quick encounter with years ago in the disabled toilets of one of the pubs on the crawl, and he tries to proposition her and she slaps him. But later on as she leaves town Gary stays "we'll always have disableds". And finally Pierce Brosnan provides an amusing brief role as a school teacher who has been taken over by the robots, although admittedly Brosnan's contribution is no where near as good as Timothy Dalton's in Hot Fuzz, but then again it is a much smaller role.
So moving onto Edgar Wright and his direction as he does a fine job here with the fast paced action sequences as well as the build up of Gary and his friends heading to the town. Wright also pays homage to Invasion of the body snatches with this one, as the robots can copy the human DNA with physical contact, as we see in the scene where the two seductive girls dance and kiss Gary and Andy. Wright also adds in a neat reference to the cornettos, as toward the end Andy looks out and sees a Cornetto wrapper flap in the wind right past him! The film also has a good soundtrack which includes a lot of 80s, 90s tracks such as Primal Scream's "Loaded, Happy Mondays "Step on", Blur's "There's no other way" and of course The Stone Roses "Fool's gold".
So does The World's End have any glaring flaws???? Well not glaring exactly, but its not exactly perfect either. For starters character wise Gary is a bit of a dick, who's over enthusiastic, immature and egomaniacal personality can grate on your nerves, but as the film later progresses he slowly becomes a bit more bearable. The film also has some characters which are sidelined such as Pierce Brosnan's and even Paddy Considine kind of takes a back seat next to Pegg and Frost as they are always at the forefront here. I also felt the film's ending while I quite liked the post apocalyptic setting (which I won't go into, promise!) I felt that Gary's transformation into a "king" so to speak was a bit out of the blue and leaves you going "What??!". Also when Gary effectively defeats the Network by pissing it off and it decides to leave the planet, it seems a bit of a copout way for him to defeat the robot invasion, but then it doesn't have to be too logical since its a comedy after all.
Soooo that's it for The World's End, which is an enjoyable follow up after Hot Fuzz, and Wright redeems himself here after the annoying and distracting comic book film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim. And while its not quite as funny as its predecessors its still worth checking out.
And I shall leave yee there.
The film starts with its main characer, Gary King (Simon Pegg) an alcoholic, who reminisces of the days of his youth when he tried to do a pub crawl with his mates in his home town of Newton Haven 20 years ago. The pub crawl consisted of visiting all 12 pubs in the area, however Gary failed to complete the crawl and now he wants to get back in touch with his old friends to complete the quest. Gary eventually persuades his old friends to meet up and do the crawl, which consist of Andy Knightley (Nick Frost), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine), Oliver "O-Man" Chamberlain (Martin Freeman) and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan). However as they all arrive in Newton Haven all is not what it seems as after a few pubs, Gary get's into a fight with a teenager, who is surprisingly strong, but Gary knocks his head off to reveal that the teenager is a robot. Gary friends soon join him in the toilet as more robots arrive they fight them off and afterwards decide to carry on with the crawl to avoid suspicion.
On the way Gary also bumps into Sam (Rosamund Pike), Oliver's sister, who Gary and Steven have rival affections for. Gary warns Sam to leave town who is at first sceptical until her two friends are revealed to be robots, whom Gary destroys. As the pub crawl progresses they go to a pub where they meet with one of their former teachers, Guy Shepherd (Pierce Brosnan) who turns out to be a robot, who tells them to accept their fate and let themselves be robotised. However Gary soon notices that Oliver's birthmark on his head is no longer there and he crushes his head, revealing him to be a robot, after which a big fight ensues, and Gary and the others scatter, and he persuades Sam to leave town, who drives off in her car. And from here its all down to Gary to try and fight off the robot invasion and save the town, himself and his friends.
As a part of what is now called the Three Flavour Cornetto trilogy (along with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), The World's End is quite an entertaining film but it isn't quite in the same league as Edgar Wright's first two films. The idea of the World's End is actually a good one, and while robot invasions are nothing new, Pegg, Frost and Wright all do a good job in putting it on the big screen. And the film also has a rather poignant ending with a surprise twist which I won't give away which is worth watching for. Wright also again uses the theme of the "locals" as being quite sinister, as he did so well with Shaun of the dead and Hot Fuzz, where in a small town not everything is as it seems.
So as for the performances they are all pretty good, with Simon Pegg doing a fine job as the self centred, egomaniac drunkard, Gary King, who is determined to complete his pub crawl, but instead has to fight for his life and humanity instead. Pegg get's some funny lines of dialogue, one of my favourites of which is when he berates the alien Network, who controls the robots, near the end of the film by saying "Get back in your rocket, and fuck off back to Legoland you c****!!". Also another is when he sits in the first pub shocked at his friend, Andy, who is teetotal and he orders a glass of water, leaving Gary outraged saying "A man of your legendary prowess drinking fucking rain! Its like a lion eating homous!". Also a scene where he responds to Oliver's annoying habit of abbreviating "what the fuck" to WTF and Gary angrily asks "What the fuck does WTF mean???!".
Nick Frost is also really good as Gary's best friend, Andy, who was once a big drinker as a youth, but is now a buttoned down accountant, until he get's caught up in the robot invasion, and as he starts fighting its not long before he starts to drink shots! Frost has some good dialogue as well and one which springs to mind is when he speaks out to the Network (voiced by Bill Nighy) as he defends Gary saying "Hey who put you in charge? Hey who are you to criticise anyone? Now, you may think Gary is a bit of a cock, and he is a bit of a cock, but he's my cock!". Martin Freeman is also really good in his role as the suave Oliver, a yuppie estate agent, who eventually ends up getting taken over by the robots and he spends the second half of the film without most of his head! And not to give too much away but at the end of the film we see the robotic Oliver give a couple a tour of a dilapidated house, and he has a used football with a couple of eyeholes cut out to substitute for his cracked head!
Paddy Considine is slightly sidelined in his role as Steven Prince, but being the excellent actor that he is, he does a fine job with the role, as one of the Gary's friends who comes along for the crawl and ends up having to fight the robots. Paddy isn't given his lion share of the funny lines, but one I liked was after they fight the first robots, Steve says "Ten people have entered this toilet in the last five minutes and not a single on has come back out again. That's going to look suspicious" after which Gary crudely says "Gay love!". Eddie Marsan is also pretty good in his role as the cowardly Peter Page who was the victim of bullying when growing up and he ends up hiding under the tables during the fight scenes against the robots. Rosamund Pike is also good as Sam, whom Gary once had a quick encounter with years ago in the disabled toilets of one of the pubs on the crawl, and he tries to proposition her and she slaps him. But later on as she leaves town Gary stays "we'll always have disableds". And finally Pierce Brosnan provides an amusing brief role as a school teacher who has been taken over by the robots, although admittedly Brosnan's contribution is no where near as good as Timothy Dalton's in Hot Fuzz, but then again it is a much smaller role.
So moving onto Edgar Wright and his direction as he does a fine job here with the fast paced action sequences as well as the build up of Gary and his friends heading to the town. Wright also pays homage to Invasion of the body snatches with this one, as the robots can copy the human DNA with physical contact, as we see in the scene where the two seductive girls dance and kiss Gary and Andy. Wright also adds in a neat reference to the cornettos, as toward the end Andy looks out and sees a Cornetto wrapper flap in the wind right past him! The film also has a good soundtrack which includes a lot of 80s, 90s tracks such as Primal Scream's "Loaded, Happy Mondays "Step on", Blur's "There's no other way" and of course The Stone Roses "Fool's gold".
So does The World's End have any glaring flaws???? Well not glaring exactly, but its not exactly perfect either. For starters character wise Gary is a bit of a dick, who's over enthusiastic, immature and egomaniacal personality can grate on your nerves, but as the film later progresses he slowly becomes a bit more bearable. The film also has some characters which are sidelined such as Pierce Brosnan's and even Paddy Considine kind of takes a back seat next to Pegg and Frost as they are always at the forefront here. I also felt the film's ending while I quite liked the post apocalyptic setting (which I won't go into, promise!) I felt that Gary's transformation into a "king" so to speak was a bit out of the blue and leaves you going "What??!". Also when Gary effectively defeats the Network by pissing it off and it decides to leave the planet, it seems a bit of a copout way for him to defeat the robot invasion, but then it doesn't have to be too logical since its a comedy after all.
Soooo that's it for The World's End, which is an enjoyable follow up after Hot Fuzz, and Wright redeems himself here after the annoying and distracting comic book film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim. And while its not quite as funny as its predecessors its still worth checking out.
And I shall leave yee there.
Khamis, 28 November 2013
The Doctor's Day
Righty so another post and this time its on Doctor Who and not only any Doctor Who story but this is the 50th anniversary episode, The Day of the Doctor, which was broadcast on 23 November, the date that the show began. And with that let's reverse the polarity and give this a look....
So the story begins actually where the show began at Coal Hill school, where Clara Oswald (the lovely Jenna Louise Coleman) receives a message from the Doctor (Matt Smith) who tells her to return to the TARDIS. However when Clara does return, the TARDIS is airlifted to Trafalgar square, which was arranged by UNIT. One of the members of the paramilitary organisation UNIT Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) shows preserved instructions from Elizabeth I (the Doctor's former wife apparently!) and a secret gallery within the National Gallery which has a display of Time Lord art. The time lord pictures include a picture of the legendary time war, where the time lords and the dalek races were both obliterated. The Doctor on investigating the pictures finds the glass has been broken in them and it soon transpires the 3D images contain zygons, shape shifting aliens who have been impersonating key members of UNIT and are intent on invasion.
Meanwhile another incarnation of the Doctor, known as the War Doctor (John Hurt) is the one who has said to have detonated the bomb that destroyed both the time lords and the daleks. The war doctor intends to end the time war by use of a weapon of mass destruction called the "Moment", which is actually a sentient being, which takes the shape of the Tenth Doctor's assistant, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) who warns him of the consequences of doing so. The Moment then opens a fissure in time and space to link the two time periods of the Eleventh doctor in London 2013 and the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) who is in the Elizabethan era, where he is investigating the appearance of zygons, as well as appearing to court a young Elizabeth I (Joanna Page). And its not long before the three doctors, the tenth, eleventh and the war doctor are all drawn together to fight against the zygons and find the best way forward to try and save Gallifrey from its own seemingly inevitable fate.
As a 50th anniversary celebratory episode, The Day of the Doctor does a fine job in achieving just that in what is almost essentially another variation of the three doctors, as that's how many doctors we really get in this story (if you exclude the brief footage of the other doctors). And the dynamic between the three doctors is what actually makes the story work pretty well as the doctors all bounce off one another nicely. And the War Doctor is a nice contrast as the aged and wounded doctor who has the weight of the universe on his shoulders as he faces carrying the fate of it in his hands. The tenth and eleventh doctors are in comparison like a pair of exciteable kids who the War doctor tries to keep in check. The episode also makes several references to previous stories and in particular to An Unearthly Child, the first ever Doctor Who story, as we see a policeman enter a scrapyard with the name I.M. Foreman on the front and we even get the original title sequence as well. The story also makes various other references to the Tenth Doctor's era and elaborates on his marriage to Elizabeth I as we see them together in that period. There are also references to UNIT as Kate Stewart, the UNIT commander, is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart and she uses the callsign of "Greyhound leader" which was used often by the Brigadier in the past. There is also a female character called Osgood (played by Ingrid Oliver) who is asthmatic and curiously wears the fourth doctor's scarf, and the name Osgood itself is a reference to The Daemons, the third doctor story where there was a character called Sergeant Osgood (but nothing is really made of this in the episode!). So naturally as an anniversary episiode it is quite referential.
Moving onto the performaces were the three leads are very good in their different ways, with Matt Smith admittedly starting to grate a little with his speedy delivery and his need to constantly keep twirling as if he has just wondered off Strictly come dancing! But regardless of that though Smith still does a fine job as the current doctor and he plays off the other two nicely, especially in his first scene with the tenth doctor when it dawns on him they are both the same person as they get out their sonic screwdrivers and also both wear glasses! Smith also pokes fun at Tennant's slim build as he first arrives through the time fissure and he says "That is proper skinny! Matchstick man wearing sandshoes!". David Tennant is great in his role as the Tenth doctor and he makes a very welcome return to the series and its refreshing to see his potrayal of the doctor again. Tennant also has some funny moments such as where he confronts Elizbaeth I and accuses her of being a zygon and he takes out a device that he uses to detect aliens, and the Elizabeth asks what it is and he says "Its a thing that goes ding!". Also Tennant nicely refers to his last line in his tenure of the show as he hears of the Eleventh's doctor dying place and he says to him "We need to find a new destination, because.... because I don't want to go". Both Doctors also make a nice reference to their catchphrase, i.e. "Jeronimo!" for the Eleventh and "Allons-y!" for the Tenth.
John Hurt is also really good in his part as the War Doctor as a man with a tremendous burdon of carrying fate of his race. Hurt also has some nice moments with the other two doctors and I also like the moment where he hears the other doctors catchphrases as they are set to try and freeze Gallifrey in order to preserve it and he groans and says "Oh for God's sake! Gallifrey stands!". Billie Piper also makes a welcome return although she is not playing her character of Rose Tyler and instead plays the Moment, which makes it difficult for us to relate to her as a character in any conventional sense. Jenna Louise Coleman is fine (and foine!) again in her role as Clara Oswald although she does play a more secondary role in the story to what is going with the doctors, which is only fair since they are the focus of this story. Joanna Page as Queen Elizabeth I is also quite good in her role as she has a flirtatious relationship with the tenth doctor and they later on marry and she also can't stop kissing him! Jemma Redgrave is not too bad either in her role as Kate Stewart, the Brigadier's daughter who is prepared to destroy London in order to save it from the zygon invasion. And finally I will mention and cannot forget to for that matter, Tom Baker who provides a nice little end scene with the Eleventh doctor, as the curator of the National gallery, who suggests to the Doctor that Gallifrey can be found and restored once again. And as a final final note I also liked the inclusion of Peter Capaldi in the scene where all the Doctors use their TARDIS's to save Gallifrey, even though we just see his eyes its a nice touch that they included him.
As for the story's flaws.... well it does have some and the main one would be exlcusion of the some of the other doctors from the story as it would have been nice to have seen Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Paul McGann (well he was involved in a mini episode called The Night of the Doctor of course) and Sylvester McCoy all involved in the actual story instead of just footage fron their respective eras. In regards to Christopher Eccleston he turned down the offer to appear in the story, which was probably a reflection of his time on the show and how he didn't get on with the senior production of the time in his short tenure for the role. And in a way it becomes more of a three-man show, and at times just a two-man show with Matt Smith and David Tennant at the forefront vying for the attention. The story which is written by the series current producer and script editor, Steven Moffatt, is also pretty convoluted once again, and while Moffatt is an intelligent and witty writer, he can't resist in confusing his audience by writing things back to front. Which is a reminder again of the current stories of Doctor Who will never be quite a patch on the old ones from the original show, in how they were written was far better structured than they are now. However I guess that's just me and I don't mean to take away from the efforts that Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies have given to the series for which they deserve alot of credit for bringing it back to our screens in the first place.
So all that aside The Day of the Doctor is an entertaining story and an enjoyable way to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, which will soon carry on with a new face quite soon as Matt Smith is set to depart from the role in the Christmas special and a certain Mr Capaldi will take over, which should be very interesting.
And so with that I shall let things dematerialise right there.
So the story begins actually where the show began at Coal Hill school, where Clara Oswald (the lovely Jenna Louise Coleman) receives a message from the Doctor (Matt Smith) who tells her to return to the TARDIS. However when Clara does return, the TARDIS is airlifted to Trafalgar square, which was arranged by UNIT. One of the members of the paramilitary organisation UNIT Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) shows preserved instructions from Elizabeth I (the Doctor's former wife apparently!) and a secret gallery within the National Gallery which has a display of Time Lord art. The time lord pictures include a picture of the legendary time war, where the time lords and the dalek races were both obliterated. The Doctor on investigating the pictures finds the glass has been broken in them and it soon transpires the 3D images contain zygons, shape shifting aliens who have been impersonating key members of UNIT and are intent on invasion.
Meanwhile another incarnation of the Doctor, known as the War Doctor (John Hurt) is the one who has said to have detonated the bomb that destroyed both the time lords and the daleks. The war doctor intends to end the time war by use of a weapon of mass destruction called the "Moment", which is actually a sentient being, which takes the shape of the Tenth Doctor's assistant, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) who warns him of the consequences of doing so. The Moment then opens a fissure in time and space to link the two time periods of the Eleventh doctor in London 2013 and the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) who is in the Elizabethan era, where he is investigating the appearance of zygons, as well as appearing to court a young Elizabeth I (Joanna Page). And its not long before the three doctors, the tenth, eleventh and the war doctor are all drawn together to fight against the zygons and find the best way forward to try and save Gallifrey from its own seemingly inevitable fate.
As a 50th anniversary celebratory episode, The Day of the Doctor does a fine job in achieving just that in what is almost essentially another variation of the three doctors, as that's how many doctors we really get in this story (if you exclude the brief footage of the other doctors). And the dynamic between the three doctors is what actually makes the story work pretty well as the doctors all bounce off one another nicely. And the War Doctor is a nice contrast as the aged and wounded doctor who has the weight of the universe on his shoulders as he faces carrying the fate of it in his hands. The tenth and eleventh doctors are in comparison like a pair of exciteable kids who the War doctor tries to keep in check. The episode also makes several references to previous stories and in particular to An Unearthly Child, the first ever Doctor Who story, as we see a policeman enter a scrapyard with the name I.M. Foreman on the front and we even get the original title sequence as well. The story also makes various other references to the Tenth Doctor's era and elaborates on his marriage to Elizabeth I as we see them together in that period. There are also references to UNIT as Kate Stewart, the UNIT commander, is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart and she uses the callsign of "Greyhound leader" which was used often by the Brigadier in the past. There is also a female character called Osgood (played by Ingrid Oliver) who is asthmatic and curiously wears the fourth doctor's scarf, and the name Osgood itself is a reference to The Daemons, the third doctor story where there was a character called Sergeant Osgood (but nothing is really made of this in the episode!). So naturally as an anniversary episiode it is quite referential.
Moving onto the performaces were the three leads are very good in their different ways, with Matt Smith admittedly starting to grate a little with his speedy delivery and his need to constantly keep twirling as if he has just wondered off Strictly come dancing! But regardless of that though Smith still does a fine job as the current doctor and he plays off the other two nicely, especially in his first scene with the tenth doctor when it dawns on him they are both the same person as they get out their sonic screwdrivers and also both wear glasses! Smith also pokes fun at Tennant's slim build as he first arrives through the time fissure and he says "That is proper skinny! Matchstick man wearing sandshoes!". David Tennant is great in his role as the Tenth doctor and he makes a very welcome return to the series and its refreshing to see his potrayal of the doctor again. Tennant also has some funny moments such as where he confronts Elizbaeth I and accuses her of being a zygon and he takes out a device that he uses to detect aliens, and the Elizabeth asks what it is and he says "Its a thing that goes ding!". Also Tennant nicely refers to his last line in his tenure of the show as he hears of the Eleventh's doctor dying place and he says to him "We need to find a new destination, because.... because I don't want to go". Both Doctors also make a nice reference to their catchphrase, i.e. "Jeronimo!" for the Eleventh and "Allons-y!" for the Tenth.
John Hurt is also really good in his part as the War Doctor as a man with a tremendous burdon of carrying fate of his race. Hurt also has some nice moments with the other two doctors and I also like the moment where he hears the other doctors catchphrases as they are set to try and freeze Gallifrey in order to preserve it and he groans and says "Oh for God's sake! Gallifrey stands!". Billie Piper also makes a welcome return although she is not playing her character of Rose Tyler and instead plays the Moment, which makes it difficult for us to relate to her as a character in any conventional sense. Jenna Louise Coleman is fine (and foine!) again in her role as Clara Oswald although she does play a more secondary role in the story to what is going with the doctors, which is only fair since they are the focus of this story. Joanna Page as Queen Elizabeth I is also quite good in her role as she has a flirtatious relationship with the tenth doctor and they later on marry and she also can't stop kissing him! Jemma Redgrave is not too bad either in her role as Kate Stewart, the Brigadier's daughter who is prepared to destroy London in order to save it from the zygon invasion. And finally I will mention and cannot forget to for that matter, Tom Baker who provides a nice little end scene with the Eleventh doctor, as the curator of the National gallery, who suggests to the Doctor that Gallifrey can be found and restored once again. And as a final final note I also liked the inclusion of Peter Capaldi in the scene where all the Doctors use their TARDIS's to save Gallifrey, even though we just see his eyes its a nice touch that they included him.
As for the story's flaws.... well it does have some and the main one would be exlcusion of the some of the other doctors from the story as it would have been nice to have seen Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Paul McGann (well he was involved in a mini episode called The Night of the Doctor of course) and Sylvester McCoy all involved in the actual story instead of just footage fron their respective eras. In regards to Christopher Eccleston he turned down the offer to appear in the story, which was probably a reflection of his time on the show and how he didn't get on with the senior production of the time in his short tenure for the role. And in a way it becomes more of a three-man show, and at times just a two-man show with Matt Smith and David Tennant at the forefront vying for the attention. The story which is written by the series current producer and script editor, Steven Moffatt, is also pretty convoluted once again, and while Moffatt is an intelligent and witty writer, he can't resist in confusing his audience by writing things back to front. Which is a reminder again of the current stories of Doctor Who will never be quite a patch on the old ones from the original show, in how they were written was far better structured than they are now. However I guess that's just me and I don't mean to take away from the efforts that Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies have given to the series for which they deserve alot of credit for bringing it back to our screens in the first place.
So all that aside The Day of the Doctor is an entertaining story and an enjoyable way to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, which will soon carry on with a new face quite soon as Matt Smith is set to depart from the role in the Christmas special and a certain Mr Capaldi will take over, which should be very interesting.
And so with that I shall let things dematerialise right there.
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