Back To The Future Part 2 (1989)

Back to the Future Part 2 (1989)

MOVIE SUMMARY:

After visiting 2015, Marty McFly must repeat his visit to 1955 to prevent disastrous changes to 1985… without interfering with his first trip.

MOVIE THEMES:

Emotional self-control

Back to the Future Part 2 (1989) is the second film in the time-traveling trilogy. The film picks up right where the last film left off. Immediately the plot takes Doc Brown and Marty McFly (and Jennifer) to 2015. The film continues to deal with the important issue of actions and consequences. Every action has a consequence. Every decision we make (good or bad) can cause all kinds of changes.

The team goes to 2015 to change the events that have happened. Marty McFly Jr. has succumbed to peer pressure. Griff (son of Biff Tannen) has challenged Marty Jr. to rob a store. The future USA Today headline shows that Marty Jr. has been put in jail. Doc and Marty try to intervene to change circumstances. As a result, Griff is put into jail and Marty’s son is saved.

However, the comedy of errors continues throughout the film. Marty McFly has a self-control problem. In the past, he lost control and that caused problems in the future. As we see in the film, Marty-2015 has never learned self-control and that has caused more problems. Marty-2015 can’t say no to an illegal activity. Instead, he succumbs to peer pressure and completes an action that gets him fired.

Financial self-control
This film explores the age-old hypothetical time-travel question: if you knew the winning scores for the last fifty years, would you make money? The answer is yes. But there are consequences. The lesson is to be patient and learn financial self-control.

When Marty is caught with a sports almanac in 2015 that shows the scores for every game from 1950-2000, Dr. Brown catches him. Dr. Brown says that he didn’t invent the time machine for financial gain. 2015-Biff Tannen steals the sports almanac from Marty and takes the DeLorean back to 1955. 2015-Biff gives the almanac to 1955-Biff. As a result, time changes. The place becomes seedy after Biff get rich. The scenes are reminiscent of It’s a Wonderful Life and how Bedford Falls changes to Potterville after George Baily dies. The moral is that “riches in the hands of morally selfish people hurt society”.
This film also answers the critique raised by some about the first movie. How could the McFly family become middle-class? Doesn’t the first film teach that if you change things, you will be more successful? This sequel shows us that hard work (like writing and going to a job) bring financial success. One learns to be content with the money one makes. “Get quick rich” schemes never benefit a person. Hard work teaches financial self-control.

QUESTIONS:

Marty has a hard time with emotional self-control. He gets picked on and hasn’t learn to let the insults roll off. Galatians 5:21-22 teaches that one fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control. Do you have problems with emotional self-control? How do you deal with it?
The film teaches that riches in the hands of morally selfish people hurt society. 1 Timothy 6:10 teaches that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” How hard is it to prevent the love of money from ruling your life?
The movie teaches very clearly that choices matter. What choices have changed your life?

Back to the Future Part 2 (1989) is a Christian movie review of the second film in the Back to the Future trilogy.