Hello, all!
I have little doubt that some have a particular fondness for the goofy antics of Bill S. Preston, Esquire, and Ted “Theodore” Logan, particularly in their debut film BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. I liked that one, but have to admit that BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY hit me far more squarely in my cinematic sweet spot than the first film.
If you’ve been following along this “series,” and many thanks if you have, you’ve heard me say that sequels should be the beneficiaries of all the groundwork laid by the first film. Honestly, with the characters and cinematic universe established, a sequel should be able to busy itself with the telling of a solid, more involved story without the fuss and muss of having to explain who or what it is that is advancing the plot. This film does that, and in true “raise the stakes” fashion by having our Wyld Stallyns heroes fighting not only their evil robot selves, but also the Grim Reaper and, well, Hell. That makes for more compelling viewing than watching the two gather a bunch of historical figures into a phone booth so they pass their history class, methinks… and I love history.
The one rub I have of this film is that there’s not as much of George Carlin’s “Rufus” character, but that’s just because I am a fan of the late comedian’s stuff. To be fair, the film doesn’t really need an awful lot of Rufus, and it probably wouldn’t make much sense to have him in it too much given the structure and development of the plot. There are a few nifty pop culture references that the film cleverly sneaks in, to both the original Star Trek series and also to Ingmar Bergman’s classic THE SEVENTH SEAL. For a “dumb” movie, it’s pretty smart.
In brief, the titular pair have actually become the accomplished musicians that Rufus broke the fourth wall to tell us they’d become in the first installment. However, the baddie from LETHAL WEAPON 2 is a baddie again and wants to stop the utopian society Bill and Ted created from ever coming into existence. As such, he sends back robot copies of the pair to kill them… which [SPOILER ALERT] they do [END SPOILER]. Fortunately for our hapless heroes, they negotiate a contest with Death to determine whether or not they escape Hell or stay there forever. If you’re wondering what the answer is, you can find it in a *.gif from the film that I embedded in a post I made elsewhere on the General’s Quarters.
Speaking of *.gifs, though, there’s one that I want to include to help you visualize just how unsettling the depiction of Hell is in this film.
Now that’s a freaky Easter Bunny. In terms of unexpectedly unnerving depictions of the hot place, it’s up there with THE BLACK HOLE [which, as an aside, featured the most frightening on-screen depiction of Hell since… ever… and it’s a Disney movie!] and CONSTANTINE.
As the song says, you’ve got to go through Hell before you get to Heaven, so our dynamic duo make their way there, too, before returning for the battle of the bands finale, where Primus perform “Tommy the Cat,” one of my favorite tunes. Although the main characters are barely smarter than Beavis and Butt-Head, the film manages to be a lot of fun. Enjoy!
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - THE DARK KNIGHT; Day 2 - DESPERADO; Day 3 - THE ROAD WARRIOR; Day 4 - X2: X-MEN UNITED; Day 5 - TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY; Day 6 - DAWN OF THE DEAD; Day 7 - DEADPOOL 2; Day 8 - HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX; Day 9 - STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN; Day 10 - THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS; Day 11 - CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER; Day 12 - ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES; Day 13 - PADDINGTON 2; Day 14 - RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET; Day 15 - LETHAL WEAPON 2; Day 16 - FINAL DESTINATION 2; Day 17 - FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE; Day 18 - NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION; Day 19 - THE RAID 2; Day 20 - THE BOURNE SUPREMACY; Day 21 - SPIDER-MAN 2; Day 22 - EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN; Day 23 - X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST; Day 24 BLADE II]
I have little doubt that some have a particular fondness for the goofy antics of Bill S. Preston, Esquire, and Ted “Theodore” Logan, particularly in their debut film BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. I liked that one, but have to admit that BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY hit me far more squarely in my cinematic sweet spot than the first film.
If you’ve been following along this “series,” and many thanks if you have, you’ve heard me say that sequels should be the beneficiaries of all the groundwork laid by the first film. Honestly, with the characters and cinematic universe established, a sequel should be able to busy itself with the telling of a solid, more involved story without the fuss and muss of having to explain who or what it is that is advancing the plot. This film does that, and in true “raise the stakes” fashion by having our Wyld Stallyns heroes fighting not only their evil robot selves, but also the Grim Reaper and, well, Hell. That makes for more compelling viewing than watching the two gather a bunch of historical figures into a phone booth so they pass their history class, methinks… and I love history.
The one rub I have of this film is that there’s not as much of George Carlin’s “Rufus” character, but that’s just because I am a fan of the late comedian’s stuff. To be fair, the film doesn’t really need an awful lot of Rufus, and it probably wouldn’t make much sense to have him in it too much given the structure and development of the plot. There are a few nifty pop culture references that the film cleverly sneaks in, to both the original Star Trek series and also to Ingmar Bergman’s classic THE SEVENTH SEAL. For a “dumb” movie, it’s pretty smart.
In brief, the titular pair have actually become the accomplished musicians that Rufus broke the fourth wall to tell us they’d become in the first installment. However, the baddie from LETHAL WEAPON 2 is a baddie again and wants to stop the utopian society Bill and Ted created from ever coming into existence. As such, he sends back robot copies of the pair to kill them… which [SPOILER ALERT] they do [END SPOILER]. Fortunately for our hapless heroes, they negotiate a contest with Death to determine whether or not they escape Hell or stay there forever. If you’re wondering what the answer is, you can find it in a *.gif from the film that I embedded in a post I made elsewhere on the General’s Quarters.
Speaking of *.gifs, though, there’s one that I want to include to help you visualize just how unsettling the depiction of Hell is in this film.
Now that’s a freaky Easter Bunny. In terms of unexpectedly unnerving depictions of the hot place, it’s up there with THE BLACK HOLE [which, as an aside, featured the most frightening on-screen depiction of Hell since… ever… and it’s a Disney movie!] and CONSTANTINE.
As the song says, you’ve got to go through Hell before you get to Heaven, so our dynamic duo make their way there, too, before returning for the battle of the bands finale, where Primus perform “Tommy the Cat,” one of my favorite tunes. Although the main characters are barely smarter than Beavis and Butt-Head, the film manages to be a lot of fun. Enjoy!
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - THE DARK KNIGHT; Day 2 - DESPERADO; Day 3 - THE ROAD WARRIOR; Day 4 - X2: X-MEN UNITED; Day 5 - TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY; Day 6 - DAWN OF THE DEAD; Day 7 - DEADPOOL 2; Day 8 - HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX; Day 9 - STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN; Day 10 - THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS; Day 11 - CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER; Day 12 - ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES; Day 13 - PADDINGTON 2; Day 14 - RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET; Day 15 - LETHAL WEAPON 2; Day 16 - FINAL DESTINATION 2; Day 17 - FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE; Day 18 - NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION; Day 19 - THE RAID 2; Day 20 - THE BOURNE SUPREMACY; Day 21 - SPIDER-MAN 2; Day 22 - EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN; Day 23 - X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST; Day 24 BLADE II]
