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The ending of Back to the Future Part II really irritates me
- Thread starter Bor Gullet
- Start date
Can anyone explain this?
Apparently he needed to go to the bathroom and was motioning to his mom off camera.
I watched it at the cinema as a kid and I'm 99% certain it had the "To Be Continued" and Part III trailer in the original theatrical cut.
BttF2 might be the first movie I saw as an adult and thought "man this actually kind of sucks..." after being enthralled by it as a child...I even like part 3 a lot more which plays as more of a homage than anything else.
I still like that ending but only because it recalls the climax of the first one.
I still like that ending but only because it recalls the climax of the first one.
As a kid back then the hype for these movies were damn Star Wars level. We waited like 5 years for part 2 and then we got another one on top of that...
Holy Shit!
Holy Shit!
I have a memory of being completely deflated by that trailer. BTTF2 was not a great movie and then to end it with a tease of a comedy WESTERN...there could be no greater betrayal. Didn't end up watching 3 until a while later, and it just felt like a prolonged epilogue.
This is one of the best endings ever. Storywise it made complete sense and the "I'm back.. Back from the future!" is bloody terrific!
Part II always had the "To Be Continued" at the end. The original did not and had it added on the video release after 2 went into production. On the blu-ray however they removed it again for the first one. Second one still has it though.
You know what's terrible? There aren't enought endings executed like this. The build up, the tone, the editing, the hype inducing soundtrack, etc.. This was just perfect.
As for the teaser, this is a product made in a pre-internet era. There were no analysis and breakdowns of the teaser 24/7 until the sequel. At the time it felt like candy. Now we can skip it and watch the full movie already.
As for the teaser, this is a product made in a pre-internet era. There were no analysis and breakdowns of the teaser 24/7 until the sequel. At the time it felt like candy. Now we can skip it and watch the full movie already.
All this disrespect for 3 in this topic, smh.
I always found BTTF parts 2 and 3 interesting because they kind of represent the opposite extremes of how to do a sequel. 2 is ties in directly to the first movie and reuses a lot of the same beats for both comedy and drama, while 3 is an entirely original story that follows up on the previous movies but is otherwise tonally and narratively distinct from them. The kicker being that they were both written and filmed at the same time. The fact that they manage to work so well together is a testament to Zemeckis's and Gale's ability as film makers.
I always found BTTF parts 2 and 3 interesting because they kind of represent the opposite extremes of how to do a sequel. 2 is ties in directly to the first movie and reuses a lot of the same beats for both comedy and drama, while 3 is an entirely original story that follows up on the previous movies but is otherwise tonally and narratively distinct from them. The kicker being that they were both written and filmed at the same time. The fact that they manage to work so well together is a testament to Zemeckis's and Gale's ability as film makers.
as for the trailer... this was before "hype culture" and (of course) youtube. it was a prime opportunity to pitch pt 3 as the movie was already finished.
does feel a little weird and somewhat cheap watching that ending today but trilogy has that whole serial matinee feel (at least the last two) so i never really minded it
does feel a little weird and somewhat cheap watching that ending today but trilogy has that whole serial matinee feel (at least the last two) so i never really minded it
I had the same reaction. I think was the first time in my life my mind was blown.
I saw it in the theaters as a kid in 1989 and I loved that there was another movie on the way next year instead of having to wait years or wondering if they'd ever make another movie. I was pretty hyped for it.
I've always dug the Wild West setting.
The ending is fine, until the trailer until after the 'To Be continued" and it goes full trailer
But not much I'm upset with. Isn't it weird how Marty oggles his moms new boobs?
But not much I'm upset with. Isn't it weird how Marty oggles his moms new boobs?
Same here!
For years, my dream film has been Back to the Future Part IV -- a movie with the original cast that takes most of its influence from Part II. Today's movie magic could allow characters today to appear in scenes from the original trilogy and it could look seamless.
I realize that isn't realistic at this point. :(
There's no bait, OP. Classic middle chapter - get the characters up a tree. Then the movie not only tells you the third one is coming NEXT YEAR, it shows you some quick looks. In an age where there public online services were almost nonexistent, CD-ROM was still a few years away, and you had to go to tv and cable for most movie advance info, this was the best you were gonna get.
well the 3rd one was the most forgettable. I only remember the train and the frisbee gag really.
Am I out of the loop saying I didn't like part 2? It was a little too slapstick for my tastes and felt really rushed. Never saw part 3.
Third one is better than the second one. Third one is about characters again, while the second is a series of plot complications that leans entirely on the time travel gimmick to survive. Lost the heart of the first film, and the third one finds it again. It's not a coincidence that everyone who likes the second film best was like 8 when they saw it. To a kid it's the most visually captivating of the three. But as a movie it's the least essential and the least interesting.
I'd argue that BttF Part 2 does more to justify it's teaser ending than many more endings of the same type. You know that Part 3 was coming out as soon as you saw it, and you knew it was coming very soon.
Compare that to other endings that tease things that might not even come out, or tell you "come back next time to see the cool thing that we've been building up this entire time!", or tease something you'll have to wait half a decade to see and I honestly can't see how this is that irritating.
Compare that to other endings that tease things that might not even come out, or tell you "come back next time to see the cool thing that we've been building up this entire time!", or tease something you'll have to wait half a decade to see and I honestly can't see how this is that irritating.
"I'm back FROM the future" is one of my favorite lines in any movie.
Back to the Future is a three act story. Three absolutely amazing films that are all interconnected. Back to the Future II and III took a joke ending from the first film and wove pure cinematic magic from it. Lighting in a bottle stuff. Back to the Future III is the best film in the trilogy, taking the threads from previous films and using them to craft an absolutely perfect climax and resolution to each character's arc. The film absolutely drips soul, drips humanity.
Literally every second of BTTF2's ending, from the moment the Delorean drops off Marty against the storming skyline, is pure cinematic magic. The kind of stuff filmmakers wish they could conjure with their overflowing CG budgets.
Literally every second of BTTF2's ending, from the moment the Delorean drops off Marty against the storming skyline, is pure cinematic magic. The kind of stuff filmmakers wish they could conjure with their overflowing CG budgets.
You're absolutely right. From the moment they arrive in 1955 in part 2 it's so tightly paced. And having Marty interact in scenes from the first movie is fucking genius.
2 turned up everything from 1 to eleven. It's just so crazy, charming and clever.
3 felt like watered down BttF, and represented the series' first gray hairs. It's still really good, but it became evident they were beginning to run out of ideas.
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You must have HATED Empire Strikes Back. And back then people had to wait THREE (3!) years without access to the internet rumor mill to watch the conclusion. Bttf3 came less than a year after Bttf2 at least and it came attached with a trailer of part 3 right at the end.
I hadn't seen II until III was in theaters. So I haven't really conidered what that might have been like for original theater goers. Did people already know III was on the way walking into II?
This made my night.
This made my night.
Wrong. Part 2 always had "To Be Concluded" (not Continued). But you're right on Part 1 having added "To Be Continued" for subsequent video releases and tv broadcasts after the fact.
I was thinking of this shot in particular.
It's amazing how well constructed it is. The multiple stages of foreshadowing. First you have the sky storming in the background. And what's incredible is how they don't draw your attention to the storm. It's just THERE. Flashing in the background, looming in every shot. The cinematography and general visual design of the trilogy is amazing stuff. Back to the Future as a series created sequences that built to a climax in a truly effective way. The music, the acting, the visual design, and in this case the tree being struck by lightning as a pivotal moment like a dream turning to a nightmare. The tree is struck, the audience gasps. Doc remarks that he almost bought the farm there. Then Marty strides forward, declaring, "You don't want to get hit by lightn--"
The Delorean is struck by lightning. If executed wrongly this would have been extremely dumb scene. Dragging out the inevitable. Or coming from nowhere with no buildup. But the pacing, the editing, and the portrayal of the storm all works together to create an event you saw coming -- there's so much foreshadowing -- but which is like being hit by lightning.
The train sequence in Back to the Future III is similarly brilliant.
The pacing is exquisite. The colour coded logs exploding provide stakes, the slowly rising speed call-outs, and a sense of the end coming just like the end of the track is looming. The character's fates change moment to moment. This is the kind of pacing and editing that makes something like the train sequence from Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers be held in such high regard. There have been films that try to recapture the magic of this particular train sequence. The Lone Ranger and Zorro 2 created shameless homage/ripoffs of it. The peril. The stakes. The moment our character comes to a realization about who they are and who they want to be. But I don't think any film has topped BTTF3's version. It's just incredible.
Even the way the film effortlessly feeds the audience exposition about the presto logs and the windmill point of no return and stakes is graceful. The hoverboard saves the day. Instead of feeding the audience foreshadowing about the hoverboard, we see a single glimpse of the hoverboard falling into place near Marty's foot, with the scene's incredible kinetic energy remaining unabated, like a runaway train, as it were.
I know I was being a smartass but you still had that wrong, though!
Watching the trilogy on VHS with the To Be Continued, To Be Concluded, and THE END, at the end of parts 1, 2, and 3 respectively gave the movies an even greater cohesion. I wish they never removed To Be Continued from Part 1.