Back to the Future Part II (1989)

★ 7.8 1h 48m 13,813 votes IMDb
Sign in to rate this film

Marty and Doc are at it again as the time-traveling duo head to 2015 to nip some McFly family woes in the bud. But things go awry thanks to bully Biff Tannen and a pesky sports almanac. In a last-ditch attempt to set things straight, Marty finds himself bound for 1955 and face to face with his teenage parents -- again.

Back to the Future Part II

Where to Watch

Netflix Netflix Watch
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video Watch
Disney Plus Disney Plus Watch
Max Max Watch
Hulu Hulu Watch
Paramount Plus Paramount Plus Watch
Apple TV Plus Apple TV Plus Watch
Peacock Peacock Watch
Crunchyroll Crunchyroll Watch
Tubi TV Tubi TV Watch
Pluto TV Pluto TV Watch
Plex Plex Watch

Rent / Buy

Rent

Apple TV Apple TV Rent
Google Play Movies Google Play Movies Rent
Amazon Video Amazon Video Rent
YouTube YouTube Rent
Vudu Vudu Rent
Fandango at Home Fandango at Home Rent

Buy

Apple TV Apple TV Buy
Google Play Movies Google Play Movies Buy
Amazon Video Amazon Video Buy
YouTube YouTube Buy
Vudu Vudu Buy
Fandango at Home Fandango at Home Buy

Cast

Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly / Marty McFly Junior / Marlene McFly Age 64 · Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Michael Andrew Fox OC (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a retired Canadian-American actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P.
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd as Doctor Emmett Brown Age 87 · Stamford, Connecticut, USA Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr.
Lea Thompson
Lea Thompson as Lorraine Age 64 · Rochester, Minnesota, USA Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and director. She is best known for her roles as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–...
Thomas F. Wilson
Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen / Griff Age 67 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Thomas Francis Wilson (born April 15, 1959) is an American actor, writer, musician, painter, voice-over artist and stand-up comedian. He is best known for playing Biff Tannen (and his grandson Griff T...
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue as Jennifer Age 62 · Wilmington, Delaware, USA Elisabeth Judson Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress, best known for her starring roles in the films The Karate Kid (1984), Adventures in Babysitting (1987), Cocktail (1988), Back to th...
James Tolkan
James Tolkan as Strickland Died 2026 · Calumet, Michigan, USA Fiery, forceful and intimidating character actor James Tolkan carved out a nice little niche for himself in both movies and television alike as a formidable portrayer of fierce and flinty hard-boiled...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 8/10 Jul 08, 2019
You gotta go forward to save the past and back to alter the future.

Yikes!

Back to the Future Part II sees Marty & Jennifer coerced by Doc into travelling forward in time to correct the future. But Biff is still around and spies an opportunity for untold riches; which he takes. Meaning our three time travelling wonders have to find a way back to the past to stop Biff from changing the course of history.

The gargantuan, and deserved, success of Back To The Future ensured {demanded} that a sequel would follow. So taking the bull by the horns, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gray crafted not only a sequel, but a trilogy, of which part two is ultimately a sort of interim plot filler for the finale to come a year later. There's no doubt about it, part two is at first a puzzle box of a picture, one that had this particular viewer back in the day venturing in for multiple viewings to unravel the deft, daft, but intricate plot.

I have grown to love part two very much as I have got older, with each viewing tending to reward me just a little bit more. Directed with absolute keenness by Zemeckis, the film moves at such a pace there is barely time to catch breath, something that hardly helps one to follow exactly what is going on. But it does make sense under scrutiny, and as we lurch from one magnificent set piece to another, we find a dark undercurrent of bleakness in amongst the froth.

The makers offer up two visions of the future, one is all colourful and swamped in glorious 80s nostalgia, yet it's knowingly enveloped in consumerism and hi-tech reliability. The other is bitten by greed and almost under despotic control, it's food for thought and rather wry in its telling. Not content with that, the makers whisk us back to 1955 just to remind us that a time of innocence and hope did exist; and simultaneously with skill they repeat the ending of part one with the additional story of part two! Clever eh? The returning cast are again uniformly strong {Michael J. Fox, Thomas F. Wilson & Christopher Lloyd} while Elisabeth Shue confidently steps into Jennifer's shoes after Claudia Wells {Jennifer in part one} fell ill and was unable to continue the role. Alan Silvestri's score still packs a cross dimension's punch and the effects crew again come up trumps {it's ace in HD}. It now can be seen as the bridge between two better movies, that's for sure, but I liken it to Spielberg's Temple Of Doom-more darker than the more favourable films in a series; but one that is crucially still having fun. It may be a high-tempo ball of funny confusion at times, but this one, courtesy of it's ream of homages and sly observations, is one of the best trilogy sandwich fillers going.

Munch it. 8/10
JPV852 8/10 Oct 28, 2020
This was one I think I was slightly disappointed in when I first saw it in theaters back in '89 and even with subsequent viewings on VHS and DVD, however I've come to appreciate it more over the years post-2000s. Lots of fun though feels disjointed at times going back and forth in time from 1985 to 2015 to alternate 1985 and back to 1955. But I did like the technical aspects re-creating the events of the first movie. **4.0/5**

PS: Still remember back in the day seeing a TV special and believing the hoverboard was real, lol.
Andre Gonzales 8/10 Apr 22, 2023
My favorite out of the series. I like this one better, because your rewatching the 1st one as the 2nd one is helping the 1st one at the same time. So you get to enjoy the 1st one again with new twists added from the 2nd one. But you can't see yourself watching the 1st one while watching the 2nd one, because the 1st one is not suppose to see the 2nd one watching it, and vice versa. Otherwise something bad will happen if the 1st and 2nd one see each other. Lol you get what I'm saying!
Rob 4/10 May 23, 2023
Don't bother. Just rewatch the original again and be thankful.
kevin2019 8/10 Nov 29, 2024
"Back to the Future Part II" is a refreshing and inexhaustible source of entertainment and inventive fun for everyone. It features an abundance of memorable action sequences which have been brought to the screen with innovation and skill and great visual imagination. It also draws upon events featured in the original film to create an entirely different slant on the same sequences, but this time around the motivating factors in doing this retread are entirely different. Of course such sequences as these could mean a distinct lack of creative inspiration, but fortunately that is never the case here because they are visually inspired and they only add to the overall fabulous enjoyment to be had.

Similar Movies