Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 26, 1990 TAG: 9005260399
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's a relief after the sensory bombardment and dark shadings of "Future II."
Trying to sift through the temporal comings and goings of the three movies is like trying to keep track of the characters in "Twin Peaks."
But this time, screenwriter Bob Gale and director Robert Zemeckis seem content to play around with some running gags and cliff-hanging Old West action.
The result is fun for adults and children, though the movie at times does become a little carried away by scatological humor.
Michael J. Fox is back as Marty McFly, the intrepid young time traveler. The year is 1955, and Marty has discovered that Doc Brown, his old buddy, is stuck in 1885 and is about to be gunned down by an outlaw. Played by Christopher Lloyd, Doc is also alive and well in 1955, but the two decide that Marty needs to rev up the old Delorean and travel back to save Doc from a gunman's bullet.
Marty tells the western folk that his name is Clint Eastwood, and this becomes the movie's longest-running joke as Marty increasingly begins to dress like the Man with No Name.
If anything, this is Lloyd's movie. Doc is less frazzled this time around, and he even falls in love with a schoolmarm played by Mary Steenburgen. It's kind of a touching romance as the two discover a mutual enthusiasm for the futuristic novels of Jules Verne. The movie also isn't above some self-mockery.
At one point, Marty wonders why he and Doc always have to push their perilous situations to the last minute.
Sequels seldom capture the freshness of the original, but this one at least captures its spirit. Fox is engaging as usual, and Lloyd has turned the eccentric Doc into an endearingly funny character with a larger-than-life quality.
The bad guys, led by Thomas F. Wilson, who also appears as the odious Biff, are a broadly comic lot. And Steenburgen is sweetly intellectual as the school teacher.
"Future III" isn't overly clever in its humor, nor is it particularly dazzling technically. It's just well-crafted summer entertainment.
`Future III' A Universal picture at Valley View Mall 6 (362-8219) and the Towers Theatre (345-5519). Rated PG for violence and language. Two hours long.
by CNB