There’s just something special about Stephen Herek’s timeless likable cult classic that no one can really say. Anyone can see that the nostalgic connection to the film that helps, because watching it today might be thought as dated and silly to the inexperienced. Matthew Lucas said in his review, “I was only two years old when it was first released in 1988, but I certainly grew up in its shadow, watching it on a rented VHS for the first time sometime in the early 90s when it was still a relevant icon in pop culture, and its 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey was a little more fresh in everyone's mind.”
The first movie is still the main one when it comes to Bill and Ted, and it still has lasted in the public eyes enough that there was talk for a third film starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter.
Obviously, Reeves and Winter have aged a lot to be reprising their famous roles of Bill and Ted, the two airheaded “dudes” who find that they will be failing their history class because they’re too busy focusing on their band, the Wyld Stallyns. Lucas noted, “But the new blu-ray release from Fox Home Entertainment reminds us all why we fell in love with these two endearing bros in the first place.” It is difficult to see it now without thinking of the hilarious comedian who’s gone when George Carlin passed away in 2008. His performance as Rufus, Bill and Ted’s futuristic mentor through history, is one of his famous roles. In many ways, “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” is the quintessential 80s sci-fi comedy about these two bumbling morons who go through time as they meet famous figures like Abraham Lincoln (Robert V. Barron), Socrates (Tony Steedman), Napoleon (Terry Camilleri), Sigmund Freud (Rod Loomis), Joan of Arc (Jane Wiedlin), Beethoven (Clifford David), Genghis Khan (Al Leong), and Billy the Kid (Dan Shor), and bring them back to 1988 to help give a history presentation to their school.
It’s an inspired work of comedy, and one of the best of its genre. Lucas said, “It's the kind of film that Hot Tub Time Machine attempted to pay homage to with only middling success.” This is really famous, and even though Winter wasn’t acting for some time and Reeves was a one-note character until “John Wick,” they were perfect here, and famous characters of 80s films. Lucas noted, “The new blu-ray release cleans the film up nicely, and adds some special features including an interview with the inspirations for the film. Sadly we don't get to hear from Winter and Reeves, the two fans care most about, but the film looks good without sacrificing its 1980's look. Bill and Ted are back in the most excellent way possible, let's not sully it with an unnecessary sequel.” Watch the first movie, and party on dudes!
Ebert continued, “I missed the enormously popular movie that introduced these characters, "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," and felt myself blessed at the time. But now I'm not so sure. Their "Bogus Journey" is a riot of visual invention and weird humor that works on its chosen sub-moronic level, and on several others as well, including some fairly sophisticated ones. It's the kind of movie where you start out snickering in spite of yourself, and end up actually admiring the originality that went into creating this hallucinatory slapstick.”
The movie starts off in the future, where students at Bill & Ted’s University have the chance to speak personally with Thomas Edison and Beethoven, and look at amazing classics like the “Star Trek” TV series. A villain of time, named De Nomols, played by Joss Ackland, says he will rewrite history by destroying Bill and Ted. He has invented robots that look and act exactly like the two heroes, and are just as stupid, and he sends them back through time in a telephone booth.
Bill and Ted are meanwhile trying to win a rock band contest with their group, the Wyld Stallyones, which includes a couple of girls (Annette Azcuy and Sarah Trigger) they got from in the 15th century. Shocked by the appearance of the robot doppelgangers, they go on their own journeys through time and space in a serious mission to destroy them, save themselves, preserve the book of history, stay cool, and meet good looking girls.
The funniest thing that happens to them is their faceoff with the Grim Reaper, played by William Sadler, who, as Ebert said, “looks just as he does in Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal." In that film (as most of the audience for this one will probably not know), Death played chess with a medieval knight, with the knight's soul at stake. This time the dudes challenge the Reaper to a pocket video game, and beat him, even after he tries to weasel out with an offer of best of three.”
Ebert continued, “Death, having lost, has to accompany Bill and Ted on their journey and do what they tell him, and this leads to some of the funniest moments I have seen in any movie in a long time, including one where the Reaper does a little comparison shopping for scythes at the hardware store.”
One of the stops on the bogus journey is Heaven, made with amazing imagination and a lot of light and echoing sound effects and a really unusual conversation with God. Ebert said, “Bill and Ted handle this summit meeting, as they handle everything else in the film, like two dudes for whom "Pee Wee's Playhouse" would be too slow and intellectual.”
Every actor (including George Carlin, who appears in an important supporting role) have a lot of fun with this material, and it becomes more subtle fun, based on more clever timing, than you would think. Mandy of Sadler’s laughs as the Grim Reaper come from simple physical flinching, as he shows his embarrassment and lost dignity.
Ebert noted, “Of Bill and Ted, I can say that I have not seen Alex Winter much before (he was in "Rosalie Goes Shopping"), but I have seen Keanu Reeves in vastly different roles (the FBI man in the current "Point Break," for example), and am a little astonished by the range of these performances. Like Sean Penn, who immortalized the word "awesome" in a Bill & Ted-like performance in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," he brings more artistry to this cretinous role than might at first meet the eye.”
Who is the movie made for? Obviously fans of “Bill & Ted” and other interested young movie watchers looking for something that is a bit more challenging than “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” However, it’s also for fans of fantasy, fancy, and amazing special effects. Ebert ended his review by saying, “This movie is light as a feather and thin as ice in spring, but what it does, it does very nicely.”
So many years after them just needing to pass their history class, Bill and Ten are now parents to daughters named Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine). They’re still married to the princesses from the first film, now played by Erinn Hayes and Jyama Mays, but the marriage is now on edge. Partly because when Bill & Ted are told they need to go to couples therapy, they think both couples need to be there at the same time – Bill does nothing without Ted, and vice versa. They can’t even say “I” when they’re in therapy, instead say “We.” Anything one person feels, the other person also feels the same.
The problem is that their band Wyld Stallyns has yet to write the song that will bring the universe together. After years of popularity that sank to such a low that they have now been just playing open mics, they’re still trying to write just the right song, and failing over and over again. In a way, “Face the Music” is really about feeling like you didn’t accomplish your dream, like you failed a younger version of yourself who was set on making a difference.
Now Bill & Ted have run out of time to do what they were told they had to do by Rufus – George Carlin is rightfully tribute here and then recast in a way with his own daughter Kelly, played by Kristen Schaal. After therapy, Bill & Ted are taken to another reality by Kelly, where they meet The Great Leader, played by Holland Taylor, who tells them they have to write the song that brings the entire universe together or humanity will really come to an end. It’s already beginning to happen as historical figures are being brought to the present day, tearing apart the fabric of time. Brian Tallerico said in his review, ““Tenet” isn’t the only time travel movie this week.”
As you could guess, Bill & Ted decide to go to future to steal the song from themselves, which gets to some amazing, funny scenes where the two meet versions of themselves in their possible futures. Most of them, they’re angry and alone, and Bill & Ted realize that they’re going to lose their wives if they don’t also fix their marriages. Meanwhile, their daughters have the classic Bill & Ted roles of going back through time to meet important figures from history. They try to put together the dream band to help their dads make the song, including Mozart (Daniel Dorr), Jimi Hendrix (DazMann Still), Louis Armstrong (Jeremiah Craft), and Kid Cudi, who is really playing himself. Eventually, Bill & Ted meet up with Death again and even face off with a weak killer robot named Dennis Caleb McCoy, played hilariously by Anthony Carrigan from “Barry.”
“Bill & Ted Face the Music” is fast-paced and funny. Winter goes back into his role a little better than Reeves, but Reeves’ new likability as an actor goes a long way with some of his best lines. There’s a refreshing lack of sarcasm in these movies that honestly believe that friendship and creativity are going to bring everything together through history, something that feels like it happens with Winter and Reeves in real life. These are likable actors and that is shown in the roles. Tallerico said, “This is not the kind of late sequel that's a cash grab. It's clearly a labor of love.”
Tallerico continued, “The “troubled marriages” subplot gets a bit too much screen time and doesn’t work as well as the best material in the film (and some early scenes feel a little clunky in terms of pacing), but it’s never anything that lasts too long.” By the time Bill, Ted, their equally likable daughters, Death, an unforgettable robot, and Kid Cudi are in the last part of trying to save the universe; it’s a movie that almost warns you not to like it. Tallerico ended his review by saying, “It’s goofy in all the right ways and even serves as a reminder that it’s never too late to face the music, but only if we do it together.”
Anyone who hasn’t seen this trilogy should definitely check it out. You will love every single one of the films. The first one is a classic that still holds up to this day, the sequel is not as bad as everyone says, but is different in tone and is adequate, and the third movie is a welcome return and a nostalgic trip. I think the third one is the best, but that’s just my opinion. Check them out and rock on dudes.
Thank you for joining in on the review of this trilogy, look out next month to see what I will review next.
No comments:
Post a Comment