'Back in Time' is a documentary about 'Back to the Future' and the everlasting imprint it has left on society in the last 30 years. Going into this documentary, I was really looking forward to gaining a lot of new information about what went into making this trilogy of films, but there wasn't really much there of interest, for a Back to the Future fan. They did go into the pre-production of the first film for about 20 minutes, speaking to Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, and Bob Gale and providing some somewhat interesting information about the complications they had with getting the film made. They also spoke a little about the second film and its representation of the future but not enough to really give us any insight into why they decided to show the future in the way they did. And when it came to talking about the third film, i think Christopher Lloyd mentioned it once and that was pretty much it. So in terms of going in depth about the making of the films and providing any new information that was previously unknown, it was a bit of a let down.
I would have to also say that the overall structure of the documentary was a little off. It wasn't really broken into sections and instead it kind of began talking about something and going off on a tangent before then bringing it back to what it was initially talking about and certain portions felt out of place. A better and more organised structure would have really helped to maintain interest. The tone of the film was something that i was unsure of what i was going to get. And i have to say i liked the tone they were going for, it definitely wasn't a fun and exciting tone but it worked as more of a slower, slightly more emotional tone. I'm not sure if they were actually trying to evoke those emotions or if it was just my reaction to seeing things that i recognise from the film and thus my childhood. But either way it was a nicely paced documentary that had a few moments where they were able to crack a quick joke to lighten the mood a little which was nice.
But where the documentary really excelled and where i was really loving what it was showing was when it began talking about the fans, and the imprint 'Back to the Future' has had on society and our culture over the last 30 years. Getting an insight into the many types of events that are aimed at bringing together fans of BTTF from all around the world was endlessly fascinating. Seeing people interact at BTTF fan conventions, and things like the DeLoreon Car Show really shows the love for this series even today. They even go into a few more personal stories talking about how BTTF inspired people to fight through their illnesses and how they found connections between the characters and were able to learn from the film to be stronger and help others. These were very heartwarming stories that i was happy to see the documentary put quite a bit of focus on.
In the end, for BTTF fans, a lot of the information about the films themselves and what went into the making of them is stuff that has already been featured in past interviews and DVD behind the scenes that you have probably already checked out. So if that is what you are looking to get out of this you may be disappointed. But for new BTTF fans, i think you can get a good kick of info that you might not have previously known. If there was a better overall structure and more of a focus on all 3 BTTF films this would have been very worthwhile, but apart from the fan stories and witnessing the films legacy over the last 30 years there's not much else to really pick out. - 6/10
