Back To The Future Part II Review "Nobody...calls me chicken!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, so its time for my look at my previous review of Back To The Future Part II and give it an update since I've already looked at the first film in the trilogy. 

BTTF made quite a few predictions of the future and surprisingly they were quite accurate but after 33 years just how does this sequel fair? Well, let's find out...

And the usual is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!

STORY

So to recap 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 (now played by 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 then poses as his son (who Marty describes as "a complete wimp") and 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 apparently safe.    

Marty however unwittingly complicates things when he a buys a sports almanac in a memorabilia 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, bassist of 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.  

And 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...

THOUGHTS 

As a sequel to the original, BTTF Part II is a highly entertaining follow up and I would have to actually say its my second 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 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 cleverly 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 especially as we have since passed 21 October 2015 by some seven years now.  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 incredulously 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 or perhaps they were able to get that Delorean to travel through time! ;-)  

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES

Performance wise Part II is also pretty good and the regular cast are all on form once again. 

Starting 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 and even the scenes where we get to see him play his incompetent future son and also even his future daughter are still fun 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!". 

Then there is the scene in the future where 47 year old Marty gets fired from his job for getting involved in a scam with his work colleague, Needles (played by Flea from RHCP). So, in the scene Needles teases Marty and says to him "What's the matter? This will solve all your financial problems! Just stick your card in the slot and I'll handle it, unless you want everybody at division to think that your chicken?". And this sets off Marty who angrily says "Nobody calls me chicken, Needles! Nobody!" and Needles tests him and says "Alright, prove it!" and gives him a look. So, Marty after a pause says "Alright, Needles. Here's my card. Scan it! I'm in!" and Needles smiles and says "Thanks, McFly. I'll see you at the plant tomorrow" and hangs up.

So, in the very next moment, Marty's boss, Fujitsu appears on Marty's large TV screen and shouts "McFLY!!!" and Marty surprised turns round and says "Fujitsu-san! Konnichiwa!". And Fujitsu angrily says "McFLY! I was monitoring that scan your just interfaced! You are terminated!!" and Marty begs "Terminated?! No! No! It wasn't my fault! It was Needles! Needles was behind the whole thing!" and Fujitsu says "And you co-operated!" and Marty tries to bluff his way out of it and says "No, I didn't know, it was a sting operation! I was setting him up!". However, Fujitsu has already made his mind up and shouts at Marty "Read my fax!" and he pushes a button and a big sign comes up on Marty's TV saying "YOU'RE FIRED!". Marty then despairs "No! Please no! I cannot be fired! I'm fired!" and three fax machines pour a sheet of paper with the words "you're fired" on it and Marty takes one of them and crumples it against his head and says "Oh, this is heavy. What am I gonna tell Jennifer???". 

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 similar to the first film, Marty is knocked out this time by Biff's goons and he comes to in a big apartment building and his mum, Lorraine tends to him as he stirs and she says to him "Well, your safe and sound now up on the good old 47th floor" and Marty springs and asks "47 floor?!" and he looks at his aged mum with her large bosom and he says "Your my mum...your my mum..." and Lorraine says "Well of course its me, Marty" and Marty looks at her in surprise and says "But you're so... you're so.... big!".

And after Biff storms in and berates Marty and Lorraine and he storms out, Marty outraged and puzzled by circumstances asks her "Mum, you were actually defending him!" and Lorraine says "Well, we should he is your father and we should give him respect" and Marty outraged shouts "Respect???!! How could you leave dad for him?!". Lorraine puzzled asks "Leave?! Marty are you feeling alright?" and Marty frustrated "No, I'm not all right, I wanna know what the hell is going on here and why nobody can give me a straight answer?!". Lorraine then says "Oh, they really hit you hard on the head this time" and Marty pleads with her "Mum, where is my dad? Where is George McFly?" and Lorraine tells him "Marty, your father is in the same place he's always been for the last 12 years, Oak park cemetery" leaving Marty stunned.

This also leads into a funny scene where the young Biff taunts Marty as he stands outside the school dance ballroom looking at his parents and his self in 1955, only for Biff to suddenly confront him. So, Biff angrily asks him "Hey, Butthead! You really think that stupid disguise could get past me?! Let's have it out, you and me right now!" and Marty says "No thanks" and walks off.  And as he turns, Biff shouts after him "What's the matter?! Where are you going? Are you chicken?!" and this prompts Marty to turn back to him and he angrily says "Nobody, ever calls me chick....!" and his other self opens the door in Marty's face, knocking Marty sideways to the ground.   

WARNING: BIG SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

And lastly there are the final scenes where Marty gets a letter addressed from the Doc mere minutes after the DeLorean is struck by lightning by a Western union mail official. So, Marty opens it and with delight shouts "Its from the Doc!" and he reads from it "Dear, Marty. If my calculations are correct, you should receive this letter shortly after the lightning struck the DeLorean. First off, I want you to know that I am alive and well and living in the year 1885. The lightning bolt overloaded..." and he stops and says "1885! September 1885!" and he is about to run off but the official stops him and asks "What, kid! What is this all about?!" and Marty says "The Doc's alive! He's living in the old west but he's alive!" and the official asks him "What's the matter, kid?! Do you need help?!" and Marty tells him "There's only one man that can help me!".

And this is followed by the final scene where we see Marty go back to 1985 in the Delorean and 1955 Doc from the first film yell in delight only for Marty to suddenly run up to him, much to the Doc's disbelief. So, Marty shouts "Doc! Doc!" and the Doc gasps in shock and reels backward and Marty tells him "Doc, calm down! Its me, its Marty!" and the Doc stunned says "It can't be! I just sent you back to the future!" and Marty tells him "That's right you did send me back to the future but I'm back. I'm back FROM the future!" and this is too much for the Doc who exclaims "Great Scott!" and he passes out.  

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 continuum 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 a sarcastic response of "Well that's a relief!" from Marty.  

Another great scene from Lloyd is where the Doc explains to Marty what happened when they arrived back in the altered 1985 where Biff is corrupt and powerful. So, the Doc takes a piece of chalk and draws on a blackboard in his broken into lab and explains the alternate reality has come about and that old Biff stole almanac. 

So, in the scene Marty suggests "OK, so we go back to the future and we stop Biff from stealing the time machine" but the Doc warns "We can't, because if we travel into the future from this point in time, it will be the future of this reality, in which Biff is corrupt and powerful, and married to your mother,
and in which this has happened to me!" and he shows a newspaper front page that has a picture of the Doc in a straight jacket and a headline reading "EMMETT BROWN COMMITTED". 

The Doc then goes onto explain "No. Our only chance to repair the present is in the past, at the point where the timeline skewed into this tangent. In order to put the universe back as we remember it, and get back to our reality, we have to find out the exact date and the specific circumstances of how, where, and when young Biff got his hands on that sports almanac" and Marty determinedly says "I'll ask him".

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!).  And with the middle aged Biff proving the most dangerous and villainous and in that particular role he lends a bit more dramatic weight to the film.  

And the middle aged Biff also has some great scenes such as when he plays 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. And as Biff and his gang chase Marty, he uses a powered hoverboard called a pit bull and as his team hook their hoverboards onto he holds his baseball and says "Batter up!!"

Another good scene is when Wilson plays the corrupt and wealthy Biff, and he storms into find Marty in his hotel room and shouts at him "You're supposed to be in Switzerland you little son of a bitch!".  Biff then goes onto to threaten his drunken wife, Lorraine that he will cut off her kids if she leaves him and he says to her "Listen, Lorraine if you walk out that door, I'll not just cut off you, I'll cut off your kids!" and Lorraine desperately says "You wouldn't!". Biff then taunts her "Wouldn't I??? First, your daughter Linda, I'll cancel all her credit cards. She can settle her debts with the bank all by herself. Your idiot son Dave? I'll get his probation revoked. And as for Marty, well maybe you'd like to have all three of your kids behind bars just like your brother Joey. One big happy jailbird family!".   

Then is there 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'LL BE MY WIFE!!". 

And then there is the scene where the corrupt Biff tells Marty the story of how he got the almanac and then tells Marty about the old man that gave it to him (i.e. his older self). So, Biff says "Oh and he told me one more thing: some day a kid and crazy wild eyed old man who claims to be a scientist will come asking about that book and if that ever happens...". And Biff then produces a gun and he grins and says "Funny! I never though it would be you!" and aims his gun at Marty, who manages to escape to the rooftops.

And this is followed by the scene where on the rooftops, Marty looks around for the Doc who is nowhere to be seen in the DeLorean and then Biff appears behind him and shouts "Go ahead, kid! JUMP! The suicide will be nice and neat!". Marty then asks "What if I don't?" and Biff aims his gun and says "Lead poisoning!" and Marty then says "What about the police, Biff?! They can match up that bullet with your gun!" but Biff tells him "Kid, I OWN the police! Besides they couldn't match up the the bullet that killed your old man!" and Marty disgusted says "You son of a..." and Biff cocks and aims his gun and says "I guess its poetic justice! Two McFly's with the same gun!" and Marty at that point drops off the roof and Biff looks a bit surprised and says "Idiot" as he walks over to the edge only to see Marty reappear on the DeLorean and the Doc knocks Biff out with the door.

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 say it wrong!". And young Biff angrily shouts back "Alright leave! And take your book with ya!" but old Biff tries to convince him "Don't you get it? You could make a fortune with his book. Let me show you" and he turns on the radio and we hears an American football match being played and Biff looks at his book and makes a bet that a team wins from a losing position and much to young Biff's surprise the team does. So, young Biff says "OK pops, what's the gag? How did you know they were gonna win?" and old Biff says "I told you its in this book. All you need to do is bet on the winner and you'll never lose!".

And last of all is the scene where Biff in 1955 confronts Mary just outside the school dance hall and he says to Marty "Hey butthead! You think stupid disguise could get by me! Let's have it out! You and me, right here, right now!" but Marty refuses and says "No thanks" and walks off. Biff riled up then asks Marty "What's the matter?! Where are you goin?! You chicken?!" and Marty stops in his tracks and Biff goads him "That's it, isn't it?! Nothing but a little chicken!". Marty then slowly and angrily walks back to him and says "Nobody...calls me chicken...!" and he gets hit in the face by a door opened by his other self in 1955. And on the ground, Biff sees that Marty has the almanac and says "What the hell? You steal my stuff??!" and he takes it back and kicks Marty in the stomach and shouts "And this one is for my car!" and he kicks Marty again and runs off.

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 elderly 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 imnsults Marty in front of her and says "Look at him! He's butthead like his old man was!" and Lorraine angrily says "Don't you DARE talk that way about George! Your not even half the man he was!". Biff then 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 want em back? You can have them!".  

And after Biff storms in and berates Marty and Lorraine and he storms out, Marty outraged and puzzled by circumstances asks her "Mum, you were actually defending him!" and Lorraine says "Well, we should he is your father and we should give him respect" and Marty outraged shouts "Respect???!! How could he be your husband?!!! How could you leave dad for him?!". Lorraine puzzled asks "Leave?! Marty are you feeling alright?" and Marty frustrated "No, I'm not all right, I wanna know what the hell is going on here and why nobody can give me a straight answer?!". Lorraine then says "Oh, they really hit you hard on the head this time" and Marty pleads with her "Mum, I just wanna know one thing: where is my father? Where is George McFly?" and Lorraine tells him "Marty, your father is in the same place he's always been for the last 12 years, Oak park cemetery" leaving Marty stunned.

Also there is 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 quietly says "I'd like to have that in writing!". And at this point we see the Marty from 1985 sneak by the car and he says to himself "Yeah me too".

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 she still has one or two notable moments such as the one at the start where they are in the future driving in the DeLorean.

And in the scene Jennifer asks what is going on as Doc mentions they are in the future and Jennifer asks "The future?! Marty, how can we be in the future?!" and Marty awkwardly says "Jennifer, I dunno how to tell you this but...you're in a time machine!". Jennifer then takes a moment and says "Wow and this is the year 2015?" and Doc tells her "October 21, 2015". Jennifer then becomes excited at the notion of her future and says "That means I can see our wedding! I can my wedding dress!" and she asks the Doc "Doc, did we have a big wedding! I bet we had lots of guests and kids...! How many kids do we have???" and the Doc then uses a device to knock her out and the Doc explains she was asking too many questions.

And last of all is the scene where Jennifer 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 Strickland flicks through the book and says "Sports statistics, very interesting. Homework, Tannen?" and Biff smiles and says "No, it ain't work cos I ain't at home" and Strickland then pushes Biff back 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!!". 

Then there are some amusing brief roles from future actors such as Billy Zane, who plays a part of Biff's gang in 1955 and also amusingly observes how Marty from 1985 is wearing his leather 50's jacket one minute but then spots the Marty from the first film on stage in the zoot suit.  And Zane says the great line "How the hell did he change clothes so fast?!". And his funniest line in the film comes as he plays a similar henchman in the alternate 1985 where Marty is captured by Biff's goons and he tells Marty "Now, son we can do this the easy way or the hard way" and he knocks out Marty and we hear him says "The easy way!".   

Jason Scott-Lee who plays one of Griff's gang in the future is not too bad although its a very brief role and has very few lines although the one he does have comes in the scene where Griff's gang chase Marty in the future. And as Marty's hover board is stuck on water, one of Griff's crew shouts "Hey, McFly you bozo! Those boards don't work on water!" and Jason's character shouts "Unless you've got power!" and he laughs maniacally. 

And Flea from the RHCP also shows his aptitude for acting as he actually provides a good albeit brief performance as Needles, who taunts McFly by trying to get him involved in a dodgy business deal.  And Flea get's to say some good lines such as in the aforementioned scene when he taunts Marty Sr into the deal and he says to him that his Japanese will never find out and "Come on... Stick your card in the slot and I'll handle it. Unless you want everyone in the division to think you're chicken!".  And as Marty Sr is riled by this and says "Nobody calls me chicken, Needles!  Nobody!" Needles taunts him further saying "All right, prove it!". Mary Sr then relents and says he's in and Needles pleased says "Thanks, McFly. I'll see you at the plant tomorrow".

Also last of all its worth mentioning that 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. 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Moving finally away from the performances onto the direction side of things, and Robert Zemeckis does another great job here with Part II as he gets 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 Zemeckis's regular 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.  Its a technique that can get a bit annoying after a while but overall its still a pretty good score from Silvestri.

FLAWS 

So as for the flaws.... does BTFII have any worth nitpicking over???  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 intricate plot and perhaps there is too much to-ing and fro-ing 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 favorite 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 superfluous 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.

In fact you could even argue that perhaps Doc could have told Marty about his forthcoming accident in the future to prevent him from making the mistakes that would change his life to a path he probably could have avoided.  But instead Doc just decides to let Marty figure it out for himself which he eventually does in Part III while dropping one or two hints. 

Another niggle arises from the moment in the film 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 lot 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.

Also further to this point if Biff had changed the past by going back to 1955 then surely the events of 2015 should have been changed as well to shape around his corruption and power.  Although perhaps that is the point as due to living a life of wealth and excess maybe it cost him to die in the future so maybe that's why Biff appears to be in great pain and die off.  Also it seems a bit incredible that Biff would be able to drive the time machine wily nily without knowing what buttons to press or what speed to get the DeoLrean up to to activate its time circuits but seems to manage it no problem! 

Another problem I have is to do with all the talk of paradoxes that could as the Doc put its "destroy the entire universe!" yet this proves to be unfounded in the movie on three separate occasions. And these are of course when Jennifer meets herself future self and passes out in shock, older Biff meeting his teenage self in 1955 and lastly even the Doc meeting his younger 1955 counterpart. And as a result of these meetings there are no paradoxes that cause the destruction of the universe, which largely cancels out the Doc's fears. However, the one paradox that could play out is Marty's 1955 counterpart being jumped by Biff's gang at the school dance, which would have resulted in Marty most likely not getting back to the future and dire consequences for his own future even though his parents future is safe at that point. 

And last of all I have to say that the Sports Almanac book which features the sports results of every major event for the last 50 years is actually when you look at it a pretty slim book!  And if was to carry so much statistical information for five decades then surely it would be a massive bloody tome and not a skinny little booklet which is what appears to be!  Yeah OK for a few years I'd buy that but for 50???  Nah!  It seems to be another detail that doesn't quite add up but its nothing major.

So that's it for the flaws! 

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Back To The Future Part II is still an excellent and very worthy sequel to the original film and its funny and clever script as well as the performances from Fox and Lloyd and Thomas F.Wilson make it all very much worth while checking out. The film also has some excellent special effects for its time from the futuristic skies of 2015 to the multi-cam techniques of the actors playing the same roles at the same time onscreen. It also scores points for making some uncanny predictions about future technology that actually came true!

So, overall this is a great follow-up to one of the best films of its kind and I will give Back to The Future Part II:

9 out of 10 

So, that's it and I will be back soon with probably my updated review of Part 3!

So, until then its bye for now! 

Back To The Future Review "History is gonna change!"

 

 

 

 

 

Well, its been quite some time since I've looked at the subject of this post, which is the acclaimed sci-fi adventure, Back To The Future and my original post for it is quite old, so figured it was time to update it. 

So, with that said let's take another look at this classic and see how it fairs some 37 years later...

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

OK so the for the story, 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....

THOUGHTS 

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!

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES 

So as for the performances they are all excellent from a largely unknown cast at that time. 

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! And Marty stunned get's up slowly and looks at the wrecked speaker and says "Whoa! Rock and roll" and then the phone rings and Marty answers it to speak to Doc, who tells him to meet with him later on that night but then a lot of clocks go off in the room. And Doc on the phone tells Marty "My plan worked, all these clocks are exactly 25 minutes slow!" and Marty asks "Doc, are you telling me its 8.25??" and Doc says "Precisely!" and Marty says "Damn! I'm late for school!" and he hangs up.  

Also later in the scene where the school's discipline officer, Mr Strickland (brilliantly played by James Tolkan) berates Marty for being late. So, Strickland tells him "I hear you are on the school band roster for this year, why even bother, McFly? You're too much like your old man!" and he gets right in Marty's face and says "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!  Hey, you on the bike!". And as Marty catches up with George he finds him up a tree looking at a girl across the street undressing (Lorraine) and Marty looks shocked and says "He's a peeping tom!". However as George loses his balance and falls out the tree, an oncoming car approaches him and Marty reacts and pushes George out the way and shouts "Dad!" just as the car knocks him down instead. 

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 "Maybe you were adopted. 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!".   

Also later when Marty in the past with the Doc goes to the school and finds out that Lorraine has fallen for him, Doc tells Marty "This is worse than I thought, it appears your mother amorously infatuated with you instead of your father" and Marty says "Wait a minute, Doc, are you trying to tell me my mother has the hots for me??!" and Doc tells him "Precisely!" and Marty freaked out says "Whoa, this is heavy!".  

Another good scene is when Marty pleads with George to ask out Lorraine but George refuses and tells him "Look, I'm just not ready to ask Lorraine to the dance and not you or anybody else on this planet is gonna change my mind!" and he runs off, leaving Marty with an idea of using radiation suit to pretend he's an alien. So, later on he sneaks into George's bedroom (wonder how?!) and puts headphones on George, puts a tap on Van Halen in his cassette player and turns it on with George leaping up awake clasping his hands on his ears. So, George terrified sees the radiation suit figure and asks "Who are you?!" and Marty plays the tape again and says "Silence earthling! My name is Darth Vader! I am an extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan!".  

Then there is the scene where Marty goes over his plan to help George win over Lorraine and take her to the dance. So, in the scene Marty helps George put out his washing and he asks him "So, at 8.30 where are you gonna be?" and George says "I'm gonna be at the dance" and Marty asks "And where am I gonna be?" and George says "You're gonna be in the car with her". Marty then says "So, right round 9 o'clock she's gonna get very angry with me" and George asks "Why would she get angry with you?" and Marty awkwardly tells him "Because, George nice girls get angry when guys try to take advantage of them". So, Marty then says "Okay? So around nine o'clock you're walking through the parking lot, you see us... struggling in the car. You walk up, you open the door and you say..." and he impatiently says "...you're line, George!" and George realises and says "Oh...hey you get your damn hands off her!". 

Another highlight is of course where Marty plays Johnny B Goode at the prom dance and he starts by saying to the crowd "Alright, so this is an oldie...or at least its an oldie where I come from!". So, Marty starts playing but he gets a bit too carried away with himself as he goes on, mimicking players like Peter Townsend and Jimi Hendrix and the crowd and the band all stop and look aghast, and he quietly gets up. And as he hands the guitar back to the singer, he says to the audience "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet.  But your kids are gonna love it!". 

And then there is the scene where Marty is about to go back to the future on the night of the thunder storm at the clock tower and he writes a letter to Doc and sneaks it into his jacket. However, later on Doc takes it out of a jacket and looks at it and asks Marty "What's the meaning of this?!" and Marty tells him "Find out in 30 years!" and Doc shouts "Its about the future isn't it?! Its information about the future! I warned you about this, kid! The consequences could be disastrous!" and Marty shouts over the noise of the storm and says "That's a risk you're gonna have to take! YOU LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!" but Doc tears up the letter and shouts "NO!! I refuse to take the responsibility!".  Marty then shouts back "In that case, I'll tell you right out...!" but then the storm knocks down a tree that loosens one of the cables used to conduct the lightning bolt. 

Last of all is the scene where Marty back in 1985 with his mum and dad are now a happy confident couple, Biff now running a second rate waxing business and playing subservient to George and in the scene Marty is handed the keys to a new land rover. So, as Marty opens the garage and sees it, he looks delighted as Jennifer walks up behind him and asks "How about a ride, mister?" and Marty looks at her and says "Jennifer! Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes" and he holds her and says "Let me look at you" and Jennifer, a little surprised says "Marty, you're acting like you haven't seen me in a week!" and Marty tells her "I haven't". Jennifer then asks Marty "Are you ok? Is everything alright?" and Marty takes a look over at his parents who look out the door at him lovingly and Marty smiles and says "Oh yeah. Everything is great".  

Christopher Lloyd is also great as Doc Brown, the eccentric scientist, who creates a time machine out of a DeLorean car and he has a nice friendship with Marty as it progresses throughout the trilogy.  

Lloyd has quite a few standout scenes such as where in the past he first meets Marty and is incredulous 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????!". Doc then runs out of his house toward a lock-up room (presumably his lab) and he tells Marty "I've had enough jokes for one night! Goodnight future boy!".  

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!!!" and Marty runs out after him and shouts "What the hell is a GIGAWATT??!". Doc then in another room looks at a picture and he says to himself "How could I have been so careless?! 1.21 gigawatts! It can't be done!". Marty then comes in and pleads with him and says "Doc, you're my only hope!" and Doc says "Marty, I'm sorry but the only thing that's capable generating 1.21 gigawatts of electricity is a bolt of lightning" and Marty asks "What?" and Doc says "A bolt of lightning! The only problem is you never know when or where its going to strike!". Marty then remembers the flier he got earlier on in the film and hands it to Doc and says "We do now!" and Doc snatches it from him and reads it as he changes his tune and becomes excited at the prospect of the storm happening at the clock tower and he tells Marty "Next Saturday night, we're sending you back to the future!".

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 rhythmic ceremonial ritual coming up!".  Marty then excitedly says "Of course, the enchantment under the sea dance, this is where they are supposed to kiss for the first time!" and Doc tells Marty "OK, kid, you stick to your father like glue and make sure he takes her to the dance!". 

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?!".    

And last of all is the final scene of the film where Doc comes back from the future, wearing an outlandish suit and a visor, he rushes to Marty who is with Jennifer and urgently tells him "Marty! You gotta come back with me!" and Marty asks "Where?" and Doc tells him "Back to the future!". Doc then rummages through a bin and picks up some bits of rubbish to put in his fusion engine and as Marty asks what he is doing, Doc tells him "I need fuel! Quick get in the car!" and Marty says "Not now, Doc. Jennifer just got here, we're gonna take the new truck for a spin" and Doc says "We'll bring her along. This concerns here too!". Marty asks Doc "What's gonna happen in our future?! Do we become assholes or something?" and Doc says "Oh, no! You and Jennifer both turn out fine! Its your kids, Marty! Something's gotta be done about your kids!". And as Marty tells Doc to back up to get enough road to get to 88 mph, Doc tells him "Roads?! Where we're going we're not gonna need roads!".

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 her first scene as the young teenage Lorraine who tends to Marty who has come round after being hit by her dad's car. 

So, in the scene, Lorraine wipes the sweat from Marty's head with a cloth and (or sponge??) and Marty asks with his eyes closed "Mum, is that you?" and Lorraine says "Relax, you've been asleep for almost nine hours now". Marty then says "I had this horrible nightmare that I went back through time. It was terrible" and Lorraine tells him "Well you are safe now back in good old 1955" and Marty springs up surprised and says "1955?!" and he sits up and sees the pretty teenager that is his future mum, Lorraine. So, Marty shocked at her looks says "You my mu...! You my mu...!" and Lorraine says "I'm Lorraine. Lorraine Baines" and Marty still shocked says "Yeah but you're so ho...you're so ho...thin!". 

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 she begins to act rather promiscuously with him and also take a swig of whisky. Marty then snatches away the whisky bottle and asks "Where the hell did you get this?" and Lorraine tells him "I stole it from the old lady's liquor cabinet" and Marty warns her "Well you shouldn't drink" and Lorraine asks "Why not?" and he tells her "Because you may end up regretting in later life" and Lorraine dismissively says "Marty, don't be such a square! Everybody who's anybody drinks!"and as he sees her smoke he says "Jesus, you smoke too?!!" and Lorraine says "Marty you are beginning to sound just like my mother!" and Marty looks stunned.  

Also in the next scene where Lorraine kisses Marty and just before she does, she asks a very anxious Marty "Marty why are you so nervous?". And Marty nervously says to her "You know, Lorraine. Have you ever been in a situation where you are supposed to act a certain way but when it comes along, you can't go through with it". Lorraine then says "I know exactly what you mean. You know what I do in those situations? I don't worry" and she leans in and kisses Marty, who recoils in fear. Lorraine however then slowly pulls back as she realizes 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! I suppose that doesn't make sense" and Marty relieved tells her "Believe me, it makes perfect sense!".

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 has some great scenes also that include the one where we first see the young Biff Tannen back in 1955 as he enters a diner and bullies George into doing his homework for him. So, Biff sees George eating cereal and asks him "Hey, McFly! I'm talking to you, you Irish bug!" and George turns around and says "Oh, hey Biff, hey guys, how are you doin?". Biff then asks him "Yeah, you got my homework finished, McFly?" and George says "Well, as it wasn't due until Monday I figured I would do it..." and Biff suddenly grabs George's face and taps his head and says "Hello?! Hello?! Anybody home?! Think, McFly! Think! I gotta have time to re-copy it. You realise what would happen if I handed in my homework with your handwriting?! I'd get kicked out of school. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?" and as George says nothing, Biff threateningly grabs George's jacket and says "Would ya?!". 

So, George tells Biff "No, no I wouldn't that to happen. OK, so I'll get that done for you and drop by with it first thing tomorrow morning" and Biff tells George "Not too early, I like to sleep in Sundays. Hey McFly you're shoes are untied!" and as George looks down, Biff slaps him in the face and laughs. Biff laughs and says "Don't be so gullable, McFly! I don't wanna see you in here again" and he walks out.  

Then there is the scene where we see Biff manhandle Lorraine in the school canteen and she tries to resist him and slaps him and says "Get your kookies off of me! I'm not that kind of girl!" and Biff grabs her and angrily says "Oh yeah! Maybe you are and just don't know it yet!". Lorraine then pushes him away and says "Get you meat hooks off of me!" and Marty suddenly comes up and grabs Biff, pulling him up by his shirt and he warns him "You heard her, get your meat hooks off...!" and but as Biff stands tall, he towers over Marty, who backs off and nervously and says "...uh please!". Biff then angrily looks at Marty and says "What are you lookin at, butthead?!" and he pushes him back and says "You know you've been looking for a bruisin!" and as the two of them are about to fight Strickland shows up. So, Biff stops and 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 last of all is the scene where Biff confronts Marty at the school dance in the parking lot where Marty is parked with Lorraine. So, in the scene, Biff pulls Marty out of the car and tells him angrily "You cost 300 bucks damage to my car, you son of a bitch! Now, I'm gonna take it out of your ass!" and he throws over to his trio of goons and grab hold of him. Lorraine then leans forward, showing her low cut dress somewhat revealingly and she says "Biff, you're drunk!" and Biff looks and says "Well lookee what we have here!" and Lorraine recoils a bit and Biff suddenly gets in the car with her and he tells the other "Go ahead and take him around back!" but they stand watching him roughly handle Lorraine and he says to them "Well, go on! This ain't no peep show!" and he slams the door. 

And last of all is the following scene where George unwittingly turns up at Lorraine's car thinking it to have Marty inside but instead to his horror sees Biff instead. So, as George delivers his line "Hey you! Get your damn hands off..." he suddenly sees Biff and gasps in panic and Biff angrily tells him "I think you got the wrong car, McFly!". Lorraine desperately gets up and pleads "George! Help me!" and Biff warns him "Did you hear what I said, McFly! Beat it! Just shut the door and walk away!" but George finally stands up to Biff and tells him "No, Biff! You leave her alone!". Biff then gets out the car and angrily tells McFly "OK, McFly. You've been asking for it, now you're gonna get it!" and as George makes to hit him, Biff grabs George's arm and twists it behind his back. Lorraine struggles to try and stop Biff who shoves her back and Biff laughs cruelly at her as George's fear turns to anger and tightens his free fist, pulls back and delivers an almighty punch that knocks out Biff cold.

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 also resembles the 11th Doctor Who, Matt Smith somewhat!) 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 disciplinarian 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.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

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. Zemeckis would go onto have a very successful career and as well as to direct the sequels and co-write them with Bob Gale.  

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 still very good and its main theme is well worth remembering and to this day is instantly recognizable 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".  

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!) 

So, 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 it still does have some issues.  

First off, why is it 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! Not only that but they are clearly in the path of the trails, so yeah bit daft that one even if it is a cool effect.  

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 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 gigawatts 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! 

And last of all is the scene near the end where Marty returns to the present in 1985 and witnesses the Libyan terrorists gun down the Doc and his other self travel back in time with the DiLorean and then we see the terrorists van crash into a toll booth for the car park. However surely after this the terrorists aren't dead or probably not even unconscious, so they still have a problem on their hands as they are bound to be still alive and after the Doc and Marty yet the film writes them off as it nothing happened! 

Anyway that's the flaws section done.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Back To The Future remains a modern sci-fi classic, which is both highly entertaining and charming at the same time with its excellent performances, particularly from Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd as well as its suspense with Marty's race against time to save himself and his family by getting his mum and dad together. The film's special effects are also quite impressive with the time travel sequences and indeed even the Doc's hover conversion at the end and the score by Alan Silvestri is also very memorable. And its credit to the director and writers, Bob Zemeckis and Bob Gale respectively that they came with a clever and funny script. 

So, there is little doubt that BTTF is one of the best films of the 1980's and as such it deserves the final rating of:

10 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another look at Back To The Future Part II.

Until then bye for now!    

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story Review Revisited

 

 

 

 

Well, its time for another review of sorts and this one will be yet another revisit of a post I had done and is of the biopic film, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, telling the life story of the legendary martial arts star, Bruce Lee and his rise to superstardom. 

So, after nearly 30 years, let's take a look at this biopic and see how it fairs.

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So the film begins in Hong Kong, where Bruce Lee's father, Lee Hoi-Chen (Ric Young) has a nightmare about his son being killed by a phantom in black samurai armour that haunts Bruce Lee as a child. The film in its opening sequence shows Bruce being taught martial arts as a child and follows his progression into being a teenager.

Years later as a young man, Bruce (played Jason Scott Lee) gets involved in a fight during a ballroom dance with some British sailors, and as he faces serious trouble with the police (as one of the sailors he attacked in the son of a police officer high up in the Kowloon police force) Bruce's father insists he leave Hong Kong.  Bruce's father also tells him that he had a brother who died in childbirth, and he fears for his son's life that he is being pursued by a demon, that preys on inner fear and if Bruce doesn't conquer those fears he may one day die.  Bruce's father then decides that he should go to America as his son was born in San Francisco and as he has a US birth certificate he should be accepted as a citizen, and he asks that Bruce make name for himself over there.

As Bruce arrives in America, he gets a job as a dishwasher at a local Chinese restaurant where he gets involved in a fight with some of the staff (as he slept with one of waitresses who was one of the staff's girlfriends).  As a result of the fight, the owner (Nancy Kwan) fires Bruce and gives him severance pay and some extra money as an all purpose loan, and she suggests that he invest in an education rather than throw it away.

At a university he encounters some racism from the students there and gets involved in a fight, but some of the onlooking students are impressed by Bruce's skill and ask if he will teach them, which he does.  As Bruce starts giving classes on campus he meets Linda Emery (Lauren Holly) and they begin dating, and they soon marry, despite Linda's disapproving mother, Vivian (Michael Learned).

Bruce decides to open a kung-fu school, open to everyone and not just Chinese students, which causes annoyance among the other Chinese martial art schools, who insist that Bruce stop teaching to non-Chinese students (or the "gwailo" as the Chinese call them) as they see it as forbidden.  As Bruce refuses to do so they insist he must settle this dispute in combat, where Bruce has to fight Johnny Sun (John Cheung) who Bruce manages to defeat, but San attacks Bruce from behind by kicking him in the back, which leaves Bruce seriously injured and immobile.

In hospital while Bruce is immobilised and placed in traction, he angrily tells Linda to go away and leave him alone, but she insists that he fight back with his mind and use his recovery time to think how to fix the weaknesses of his combat technique.  During this time Linda takes notes from Bruce which is later compiled into his book, based on his philosophy called Jeet Kune Do.  As Bruce recovers, Linda has their first baby, Brandon, and she soon reconciles her differences with her mother, Vivian when she meets them again and meets their baby.

Burce some time later after his recovery makes an impressive demonstration of his Jeet Kune Do at a martial arts tournament, as he defeats Johnny Sun once again.  After the match Bruce meets American producer, Bill Krieger (Robert Vaughan) who hires him to appear in the American TV show, The Green Hornet.  However the TV series is soon cancelled and while Bruce and Bill come up with the idea for a show named Kung Fu, Bruce is ultimately passed over in the role and David Carradine is cast instead.

After Bruce's father dies and he attends the funeral on his way home from Hong Kong he is approached by a film producer Philip Tan (Kay Tong Lim) who tells that The Green Hornet has a following in China and that it is known as the "Kato show".  Tan then offers Bruce the lead part in a film, which soon turns out to be The Big Boss, although during filming, Bruce is confronted by the brother of Johnny Sun, Luke (Ong Soo Han) who wants revenge and the two engage in an intense with Bruce finally winning it.

On its premiere night, "The Big Boss" turns out to be a big success in China and Bruce soon makes more films where he works as an actor, director and writer.  However this causes tensions between Bruce and Linda as she wants to return home to America, where Bruce feels angry at how he was treated in America and doesn't want to go back to that.

Soon after Bruce is approached by Bill Krieger again who tells him that he has another project for him called Enter the Dragon, which would be set to make him a big star, which Bruce agrees to do.  However as filming progresses Bruce soon has to face his inner demons, which could cost him dearly in the future if he doesn't confront them.

THOUGHTS 

As a biopic film, Dragon remains very entertaining and somewhat cheesy as well it has to be said, but overall it does a fine job in telling the life story of one of China's most iconic figures.  And while the film is of course guilty of take cinematic license with the real life facts of Lee's life, it balances out the events of his life pretty well and you get the gist of what he had to encounter in his time in the US, such as the racism and disapproval of his teaching methods to non-Chinese students.

It also shows Bruce's determination in trying to make a name for himself in the US as well as gaining the respect of the Chinese back in his home soil and the struggles in his family life.  And early on in production the star role was initially offered to Brandon Lee, who turned it down, and he himself sadly later was killed during the filming of The Crow, as he was fatally wounded in an accidental shooting, and the film was dedicated to his memory.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

Getting onto the performances, the cast are all excellent here.

Starting with Jason Scott Lee does an excellent job as Bruce Lee, and he plays the part with alot of warmth, charisma, compassion as well as some indignant anger at how he was treated in the US.  Lee himself trained under the tuition of a former student of Bruce Lee's, Jerry Poteet, who studied Lee's Jeet Kune Do method and he does incredibly well in the physically demanding and impressively staged fight scenes.  Admittedly there are moments in Lee's performance where he is a bit cheesy and he almost goes from being like an over enthusiastic puppy dog but by large Lee does a fine job with his character role.

Lee naturally of course has his share of good scenes in the film, such as his first one where Bruce back when he lived in Hong Kong walks into a ballroom dance where there are some unruly British sailors muscling in on the women.  So, Bruce walks up to one of them, who is forcefully dancing with one of the Chinese girls and Bruce taps him on the shoulder and the sailor says "What do you want?!" and Bruce says "I want to dance with her".  The sailor however, rudely says "This one's mine, get one of your own!" but the camera pulls back to reveal Bruce for the first time and says to the sailor "She IS one of my own!" and the two of them get into a fight.

Another good scene is where Bruce having moved to San Francisco and gone to university, he works out in the gym there but is then hassled by some of the football team, who want him off the weight machine.

So, one of the team, Joe Henderson says to Bruce as he works out "So, come on, man! Time up" and Bruce while he lifts the weights says "I'm not finished yet". However Joe insists "Yeah, you are. We work out at 3:00. See that clock? It's 3:00, come on" but Bruce says "Where does it say that in the rule book?" which prompts some reactions of surprise from the team.  So, Joe says "See, you've been reading the wrong rule books. Read the ones in English".  This prompts Bruce suddenly stop using the machine and ask Joe "What's that mean?" and Joe says "You see, that's what I mean. You're kind don't understand English!" and Bruce asks "MY kind?!". So, Joe responds "Yeah. Gooks, Chinks. You guys killed my dad in korea. you think I'm happy to see you in my gym?!". Bruce suddenly jumps and says "Don't touch me!" and Joe asks "Or what?" and Bruce smiles slyly and says "Or I'll touch you back!". So, Joe attempts to goad Bruce and angrily says "Come on, touch me, dink!  Come on, touch me, Chink!" however Bruce just walks away from him.  However a moment later, Bruce shouts "Are you coming?!  I have to finish my workout.  I might aswell finish on you!" and he beckons Joe to come over to him.

So, Bruce takes off his shoes and socks to prepare to fight Joe, who soon finds out he doesn't have the speed or prowess to take him on.  So, Joe becomes angry and says "I'll kill you, you bastard!!" but Bruce says to him "I'm no bastard, I'm Bruce Lee!".  So then Joe team mates join but Bruce outmaneuvers them all with a series of kicks and moves, leaving the team on the floor in pain and Bruce says to Joe "Sorry about your father.  That was Koreans. I'm an American" and quickly walks out.

Another good scene from Lee is when Bruce takes on Johnny San in an effort to fight for his right to teach non-Chinese students on American soil.  And in the scene, one of Bruce's closest students, an African American, Jerome warns Bruce that San is a killer and that two men once tried to jump him which ended with one in hospital and the other in a funeral home to which Bruce replies "You're a real confidence builder, Jerome!".  And after Bruce defeats San and beats him into submission, he grabs San's head and shouts "Do you give up?! Do you give up?! DO YOU GIVE UP???!!" and San says "I give up!".  So, Bruce stands up and says to the other teachers "I teach who I want.  The decision is mine" which prompts an angry outburst from one of them and then San runs up behind Bruce and kicks him in the back, which immobilizes him.

Which brings me onto one of Lee's best scenes in the film where Bruce after San's treachery, lands him in hospital, immobilized and in traction, so Linda shows up to speak to him and Bruce is in a state of self-pity and anger.

So, Linda in the scene is angry that Bruce didn't tell her he was going to the fight and she says to him "You should have told me you were going" and Bruce asks "Why?" and Linda shouts back "Because I'm your wife!  I have a right to know!".  Bruce however says to her "You might wanna think about that.  The wife part, I mean" and Linda asks "What are you saying?" and Bruce full of self pity tells her "Take a good look at me, Linda!". So, as Linda says that they have some trouble with the situation, Bruce shouts back "This is more than a little trouble!!" and she shouts that Americans love big trouble.  So, Bruce yells at her "That's what you say now!!! But in six months, you'll be looking for the back door!!!".

And as Holly tries to convince Bruce that it will never be over between them, Bruce shouts at her "Go back to your mother, Linda! I'm finished! tell her I made a mistake. DO IT!! You hear me?!! Tell her you made a mistake!".  And as Holly tries to comfort Bruce, he yells loudly at her "DON'T TOUCH ME!!! I don't want you here! I don't want you! GET OUT!!! GO!!  LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" and Linda looks shocked at Bruce's behaviour, which angers him more and he yells "DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!!" prompting Linda to run out the room, nearly in tears.

Then there is the scene where Bruce having recovered from his injury and written his book on Jeet Kun Do, gives a demonstration of it at a convention where he meets alot of cynicism from the audience.  Bruce however insists as he speaks to the audience "I'll beat any man in this room in 60 seconds!!" and then out of nowhere we hear a voice shout "I'll fight him!!" and we then see Johnny Sun appear and say "I beat him before!  I beat him again!!".  So, Bruce get's ready for the fight as he takes off his shirt but Linda pleads with Bruce not to go through with it as the doctors recommended he doesn't fight again. So, Linda says to Bruce "The doctors said no more fighting!" but Bruce tells her "They said I'd never walked again, too!" but Linda tells Bruce "If you get hurt again, you're on your own!".  And as Linda walks off, as she can't watch, Bruce calls out to her "Don't go too far, hon!  It'll be over in 60 seconds!".

Another good scene comes when Johnny Sun's brother, Luke, shows up on the set of Bruce's first film feature, "The Big Boss" where Luke wants revenge for his brother, who has been left badly injured after his fight with Bruce.  So, Luke says to Bruce "My brother can't walk right, he can't talk right.  You have dishonoured my family!  I have sworn to kill you!" and Bruce says to him "Swearing is easy!".  Luke then says to Bruce "I read your book.  I know all your tricks!" so Bruce says to Luke "Let's see how well you've learned your lesson!" and they begin they're intense fight. 

Then there is the scene where Bruce expresses his frustration and resentment of American people as he becomes more absorbed in making his films in China where he has become well respected but Linda wants to go back to the US.  So, Bruce angrily tells Linda "Oh, man. they got such a good line of bullshit! "Come and get it!" "America, the mountain of gold!" "It's for everybody!!" Yeah, it's for everybody white! but they don't tell you that! You gotta read the small print! IF you can read".  Then Bruce continues his rant "I'm somebody here! I'm special! Back there, I'm just another gook! Just another wetback, Charlie Chan, slopehead, coolie dishwasher...in a stinking chinkie restaurant!!!" and he furiously knocks some stuff off a dresser.  Bruce then does an exaggerated Chinese accent "Wash your shirt, mister white man?! Please?! No tickee, no shirtee! - order one from column "a" and one from column "b!".  Bruce then breaks a closet door in anger and he goes up to Linda and yells "IS THAT WHO I AM?!  IS IT???!!!  TELL ME THAT'S WHO I AM??!!" and Linda shouts back "I don't know who the hell you are anymore!!!  Do you?!!!".

And last of all there is Lee's final scene where Bruce and Linda are on set of "Enter the dragon" where Bruce is about to film the last scene. So, Bruce says to Linda "Last shot" and Linda, full of pride says to him "Make it great" and they kiss and as he is about to go up the stairs he says to Linda "Linda, I forgot to tell you, I love you".  Linda smiles and says "I don't think you've ever said that to me before" and Bruce tells her "Yeah, but I meant it, every day" before he goes up to do his final scene.

Which brings me onto Lauren Holly who delivers a fine performance as Linda, and Bruce's wife, as she plays the all American girl, who falls in love with Lee, and defies the racism around them as well as her mother's own disapproval to marry him and have a family.

And Holly has her own share of good scenes, such as the one where just after Bruce is injured by Johnny Sun kicking him in the back, he ends up in traction at the hospital.  So, Linda goes too see him and is shocked to find Bruce in traction and she jokes nervously to him "You know, this thing's kinda sexy. maybe we can keep it after you're better...".  Bruce however is not amused and Linda says "I'm sorry. It was a bad joke. I know you're mad. don't be mad. It'll only make things worse" and Bruce tells her "Worse?!  It couldn't take a hell of alot to make things worse!".

So, Bruce tells Linda to think twice about their marriage now that he is essentially an invalid and she tells him "OK, so we've got a little trouble" but Bruce shouts at her "This is more than a little trouble!" and Linda shouts back "OK, so we've got big trouble!".  Linda then angrily tells Bruce "You're always going on about the beauties of your Chinese culture! Let me tell you about the beauties of my culture! WE LOVE BIG TROUBLE!!".  Bruce however shouts at her that she says that now but in six months she'll want to get out but Linda shouts back "Oh, no!! Its never going to be over between you and me, you get it?!".  However Bruce continues to shout and rant at Linda to go and leave him alone, which upsets Linda, who runs out.

Then in the next scene, with Bruce still in traction, he hears a noise and he fearfully asks "Who's there?!" and then we see a notebook hit the ground and then Linda slides into view on the floor to look up at Bruce's traction machine faces down toward her.  So, Linda teases him "Hi. I thought I'd improve the view. Oh, look at the big kung fu man. First sign of trouble and all he does is quit!" but Bruce annoyed shouts " Shut up! Shut up!". Linda then shows Bruce her notebook "See this notebook? Looks like the ones we had in school, right? Wrong. This is your future" but Bruce quietly says "I don't have any future" but Linda tells him "Sure you do".
 
Linda then continues and tells Bruce "You know, all I keep hearing is the fight took too long. too much tradition, too much classical mess...too many fixed positions in wing chun. you know everything that's wrong, so fix it! Stop whining and start fighting! Fight back with your mind". Bruce feeling defeated says "I can't write!  I can't move!" but Linda says "You talk, quitter.  I'll write" and she opens the notepad and takes her pen and she says "I'm waiting".  Bruce takes a moment and says "It would take forever" and Linda says "You going anywhere?  I'm not.  Oh, yeah and just one more thing...I'm pregnant". 

Another good scene for Lauren is when Bruce takes on Johnny Sun again in a re-match of their fight that hospitalised Bruce with his back injury, so Linda begs Bruce not to go through with it or he might risk being injured again.  So, Linda says to Bruce angrily "What are you crazy?! The doctor said no more fighting!" but Bruce tells her "They said I'd never walk again, too!" and Linda asks him "When will you be happy?! When they are right?!". Linda then pleads with Bruce "Bruce, I'm begging you...if you love me..." and Bruce says "This isn't about you and me!" but Linda then warns him "Fine! but I'm not going through this again, do you understand me? You get hurt, you're on your own!". 

And last of all is the scene where Linda and Bruce argue over his staying in Hong Kong to work on his movies, as she is anxious to get back to America. So, as Bruce expresses his contempt for America and its bigoted attitude towards Chinese people, Linda pleads with Bruce "I am not America. Your kids are not America. Don't push us away!" We're going. I want you to come with us. I want the kids to have a father again".  However Bruce angrily tells Linda "Don't lay guilt trips on me!" but Linda tells him "This place is eating us up, can't you see that Bruce?!" but Bruce is not interested and rants on about how Hong Kong is special and that back in America he's a nobody. So, Bruce continues his rants and yells at Linda "Is that who I am?!  TELL ME THAT'S WHO I AM?!!" and Linda shouts back "I don't know who the hell you are anymore!!!  Do you?!" and she walks out.

Robert Wagner is also pretty good in his relatively brief role as Bill Krieger, who Bruce works with on The Green Hornet and later on with Enter the Dragon. 

Wagner has some good scenes also but I will for time only mention the one where he walks in on Bruce, while is in Honh Kong, who is doing some weird training with a typewriter with electrodes attached to his chest.  And Bruce says to Bill "Its like doing 200 push ups.  Do you wan't to try?" and Bill says "Nah you would just turn it up and try to electrocute me!" and Bruce says "The thought had crossed my mind" and Bill says to him "Justifiable homicide, some might say". Bruce then says to Bill "What you want, Bill?  You didn't come here to discuss old times" and Bill says "No, I came here to discuss new times.  Bill then says "There's somebody I want you to meet. His name is Freddie Weintraub. We've got a project for you. Fred's got a script. It's called Enter the Dragon. We're gonna shoot it here, but it's your ticket back to America". So, this get's Bruce's attention as Bill tantalises him some more "It's a feature. A Hollywood feature. With all the trimmings".

Nancy Kwan also does really well with her role as the restaurant owner, Gussie Yang, who temporarily hires Bruce as a dishwasher.  And she shares a good scene with Lee when she pays off Bruce and gives him money for a loan and offers him two options. 

First off, Gussie says Bruce could blow the money on April "Tell you what to do. Take April on the town, buy her nice clothes,  check into big hotel, have lots of sex! Have food brought up to you in bed. Drink champagne and whiskey. Now money all gone, April be gone, too, like money. You come back to me. I put you in kitchen, wash dishes to pay back loan by that time you're no longer young,
you're no longer handsome, you're nothing but a... dishwasher! That one choice. There are others".  And Bruce asks "Like what?" and Gussie says "They say education is good. hmm. I've heard that. me, personally... I hope you go with April. I can always use a good...dishwasher!".

Michael Learned is also pretty good as Linda's disapproving mother, Vivian, who does not care for Linda's relationship with Bruce.

And Michael (a weird name for a woman!) has some good moments too such as the scene where Vivian pays Linda a visit not long after Bruce and Linda have had their first baby, Brandon. So, as Linda answers the door she sees Vivian and there is an awkward silence and Vivian says "Hi, may I come in?" and Linda defensively asks "Why?" and Vivian tries to change the subject as she notices Linda's shorter hairdo and she says "I like your hair".  However, Linda is not interested and says "I don't wanna chit-chat with you.  What are you doing here?" and Vivian awkwardly says "I came to see you..." and Linda angrily asks her "Did you come to see me, or did you come to see the yellow baby?!". Vivian then says "I think I made a mistake..." and she is about to leave but then we hear Bruce loudly says "Brandon, its grandma!!  Grandma's come to see you!" and he wheels up to her and smiles warmly and says "Come on".  So, Vivian goes in and sees the young baby Brandon and she is suddenly touched and overwhelmed and she says "He looks like...both of you" and Bruce and Linda allow Vivian to pick him up and she smiles and says "He gorgeous" and tearfully says to Linda "You did good, sweetheart.  You did good".  And at long last, Linda and Vivian put aside their differences and Bruce looks on happily and says to himself "Brandon, you're a strong one.  Only you could do this".

Sterling Macer is also very good as Jerome Sprout, Bruce's first student at his Kung-Fu institute, an African American, who was turned down by other Chinese schools but Bruce accepts him straight away.

So, I will quickly mention two of Sterling's scenes, the first being where Jerome first meets Bruce at the institute.  So, Jerome says to Bruce "Caught the flyer. Thought I'd check it out. See? Seen some of them chop-socky flicks, man. Some cool shit. Name's jerome. Jerome Sprout".  So, as Bruce introduces himself and Linda, Jerome says "I'd like to take some lessons" and Bruce smiles and says "I like to give them".  Jerome then tells Bruce "I've noticed that. Some of them other Chinese teachers, man, they turn me down flat. Some of 'em wouldn't even let me in the door!" but Bruce warmly tells him "You got yourself a teacher" and Jerome grins and says "I can dig it, man. You got yourself a student!". 

And lastly there is the scene where Jerome and Bruce go to the temple where Bruce will take on Johnny Sun. So, Bruce asks Jerome what he found out about his opponent and Jerome tells him "The bookies are laying 20 to 1 against you" and Bruce asks "Who is this guy?" and Jerome says "Johnny Sun. He's got a school on Thompson, he's a killer man!".  Bruce asks "Are you his press agent?" but Jerome, seriously tells Bruce "He's a real killer! A couple of brothers tried to rob him last year. One went to a hospital and one with a gun, went to a funeral home!".

So, then we see Johnny Sun enter with his brother, both men are big in build and look very intimidating.  Jerome, suddenly fearful says to Bruce "Man, they eat their wheaties in that family. Tiny there's his younger brother Luke. Bruce, forget about this stuff! Forget about all us gwailo and let's get the hell outta here right now!".  Bruce however refuses to listen and instead he shakes hands with Jerome as he starts to warm up for his fight. 

Ric Young also does very well in his brief role as Bruce's father (who's name is not given in the film) and he warns Bruce of the "demon" that has troubled his family over the years and that Bruce must leave Hong Kong and travel to America. 

So, as Ric only really has one main scene in the film I will try and cut it down a little in terms of the dialogue mentioned and its where he tells Bruce he must leave America and that is in serious trouble after his fight with the sailors at the ballroom dance. 

So, Bruce's father hits Bruce angrily and says to him "The police were here looking for you!  The sailor's in hospital with a punctured lung. He might die!" but Bruce says "He started it. He was looking for trouble".  Bruce's father however warns Bruce "He's the nephew of the assistant police inspector in Kowloon!" but Bruce says "I can hide out with my friends" but his father says "You don't have any friends NOW!" and he pulls him out of the room by his ear. 

Then after the two men sit down and have tea and his father gravely tells Bruce "You'll have to leave Hong Kong" and Bruce asks "For how long?" and his father says "Forever".  Bruce laughs and says "This is a joke!  You're joking!" but his father tells him "Listen to me, Sai-Fong, you'll die in Hong Kong.  I've seen it!".  So, Bruce's father tells him the truth about his deceased brother "You have a right to know everything. You had an older brother. he died in childbirth. the demon took him away from us. The firstborn man-child is very valuable. So when you were born, I name you Sai-Fong, a girl's name. We dress you in dresses so the demon wouldn't know I had another son. I made you speak english, all so we could fool him!  But now he knows, and he's coming for you". 

Bruce then asks "Where can I go?" and his father tells him "Well you like American movies, you like American cars.  You can go to America" and he produces Bruce's birth certificate showing that he was born in America.  Bruce says "You need money to go to America" and then his father rips open a container holding a large wad of American dollars and his father tells him "I saved it for you. For a day like today!".  Bruce, totally surprised by all this, says "I don't know what to say" and his father tells him "Say you'll do better!  Tell me you'll make a big noise in America, so I can hear over here!".

Next up is John Cheung as Johnny Sun, Bruce's arch-nemesis in the film, who takes him on twice and Cheung actually doesn't really have that much dialogue in the film due to his limited English but he certainly makes a strong impression in the role.  Cheung was also the fight co-ordinator on the film, so he took on a double role for the film's production.

And naturally Cheung's fight scenes as Sun as two of the film's highlights although he barely has any dialogue in the film he still does get a memorable line, when Sun takes on Bruce during his presentation of Jeet Kune Do at a convention.  So, when Bruce challenges someone to fight him to prove that his fighting style works so well, Sun calls out "I'll fight him!  I beat him before!  I beat him again!!".

And last of all is Ong Soo Han as Luke Sun, Johnny's younger brother, who is a big muscly fella, who later on takes on Bruce in a fight after Johnny ended up badly injured as a result of their second fight.

So, in the scene Luke arrives on the set of "The Big Boss" while Bruce is filming and tells Bruce his intent to get revenge over him, however the production crew look on as if this is some sort of pre-rehearsed fight scene between Bruce and Luke that they didn't know about!  So, in the scene, Luke comes out of a van and he says to Bruce "My brother can't talk right. He can't walk right. You have dishonored my family. I have sworn to kill you!".  Bruce with disdain says to Luke "Swearing is easy" and Luke then says "I read your book.  I know all your tricks!" and Bruce then says "Let's see how well you've learned your lesson!" and they begin their big fight together. 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
 
As for the director, Rob Cohen (who directed the first Fast and Furious film) does a fine job here and he directs and stages the film's fight sequences really well and he also manages to keep the story and the relationship of Bruce and Linda believable and charming for an audience.  Cohen also makes a brief cameo appearance in the film as the director of "Enter the Dragon" who was in reality Robert Clouse.  This for me is Cohen's best film and despite one or two other credible films, such as Daylight and The Fast and the Furious, his career as a director took a downturn ever since, which is a pity since a film like Dragon showed his talent.   

As for the film's score it was composed by Randy Edelman and it features some pleasant and dramatic tracks, although it does sound a bit dated to its period of the early 90s.  However its love theme for Bruce and Linda is regularly used in film trailers to this day so in that regard it is very memorable and its a nice theme.  Overall this is certainly a very solid score from Randy Edelman.  

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

So, flaws...does Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story have any??? Yeah, its not quite perfect.
 
And for start off, I would have to say that the film is undeniably quite corny in places, and while it is very entertaining, some scenes do make you cringe a bit.  An example is where Bruce fights the sailors and he does an amazing somersault and lands on a table full of food, and he picks up a bit of cheese cake and nibbles on it!  Also during the fight scenes there is heavy use of ridiculously exaggerated sound effects, such as when Bruce prepares for his fight with Johnny Sun, he cracks his knuckles and cricks his neck!  Not to mention also the sound of bowling skittles being knocked over when Bruce sends one of the troublesome sailors across the dance floor at the start of the film!

The film also takes a fair bit of cinematic license with the facts of Lee's life of which there are quite a few examples throughout the film.  For starters, while Lee did fight for his right to teach kung fu to non-Chinese students in reality, the character of Johnny Sun was fictional and Lee actually fought Wong Jack Man, another teacher who later claimed it had more to do with Lee's personality rather than teaching non-Chinese students. And while it was true that Bruce won the fight, Wong Jack Man, did not injure Bruce after the fight and Bruce's real back injury came from him lifting weights incorrectly.  So, this also of course means that the whole fight with Johnny Sun at the convention was also fabricated as was the fight with Sun's younger brother on the set of the "Big Boss" although quite a few film extras did try and take on Bruce in a fight during the production, that much is true.

Another big inaccuracy was that Bruce Lee's book "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" was not published until after his death, but it is depicted in the film as being published shortly after Bruce has been released from hospital.  And in reality Bruce took his first American student in 1959 (named Jesse Glover) before he had even met Linda, as depicted in the film he meets Jerome Sprout (played in the film by Sterling Macer Jr, and a fictional composite character) after he and Linda have become a couple and opened their first school together. 

The whole concept of Bruce's inner demons is also a bit melodramatic in the film and it seems pretty daft that Bruce's death was the result of his failure to conquer his own spiritual demons.  The film at the end with Linda's narration says that "Bruce fell into a mysterious coma and died" suggesting the cause of his death was unknown.  However it was well documented that Bruce was diagnosed with cerebral edema (which is the excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain) two months before his death, which later occurred on the day of his death. 
 
So again the film strays from the facts of Bruce's death just for the sake of the whole inner demon concept, which obviously the writers went with for dramatic effect.  And in reality Bruce never took up kung fu to ward off inner demons, he took up kung fu for self defence after losing a fight to bullies.  Although in the film's commentary by Rob Cohen, Cohen stated that Linda Caldwell Lee told him that after Lee survived his first coma, Lee later told Linda that it felt like he was fighting a demon in the dark.

And lastly in the film's final scene, Linda narrates that Bruce died three weeks before the film "Enter the Dragon" was released but in actual fact he died only six days before the film's release, which remains one of the film's most glaring errors!  And I find it somewhat surprising that Cohen didn't do his homework better to actually fix that error as its a pretty rudimentary one to make!  Although Cohen may have been taking that figure from the time of the film's release in the United States on 19 August 1973 because the film was released first in China on 26 July 1973.  But having said that, Bruce Lee died on 20 July 1973 and the film was released in the United States on 19 August 1973, which was nearly a month later, so Cohen is still a week out on this one!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, nearly 30 years on is a very engaging and enjoyable biopic film, which features two strong performances by its lead actors in Jason Scott-Lee and Lauren Holly, as they are both great together as Bruce and Linda Lee.  And even though Jason Scott-Lee doesn't really physically resemble, Bruce Lee that much, once he steps on camera, he really does capture Lee's charisma and presence and despite having never trained in martial arts prior to the film, Scott-Lee does a great job with the film's fight scenes.  The film also features plenty of great fight scenes, a charming score by Randy Edelman as well as solid direction by Rob Cohen.

And yes OK it does have its problems and takes quite a few liberties with the facts of Bruce Lee's life but you always have to expect some sort of dramatic licence in a Hollywood film.  But if you can overlook all this, then there is still much to enjoy and admire in the film and 29 years on, its still well worth taking a look at and it remains one of the most enjoyable biopic films out there.

So, I will rate it:

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will return at some point with another post.

Till then its ciao for now!