I'm not that big a fan of the original two Bill & Ted movies. Not because I dislike them, just because I'm not that familiar with them. I'd watched Excellent Adventure at least once many years ago, and I'd never seen Bogus Journey, so I don't really have too big of a connection to them. But, because big releases are slowly coming back to cinemas, and the thrid entry being one of them, I decided to familiarise myself with this series so that I could go and see it and hopefully enjoy it.
In preparation, I watched the first two movies a few days ago. The first one I really like, I think it's a very clever comedy with a ton of creativity, and the second, while not as good, was still a ridiculous but fun adventure. So, I felt I was ready to face the music and that it'd be a pleasant way to spend ninety minutes.
Many years after their initial capers, Bill and Ted are struggling to get by in life and aren't the successful rock stars they always dreamed of being. But, when approached by the daughter of Rufus one day, they discover they are yet to fulfill their prophecy of writing a song to unite the world. So, with little time before all of time and space collapses, the dimwitted duo travel far into the future in the hopes that they can save the world.
As I hoped, this was a really fun time. The great thing about all three Bill & Ted movies is the fact that they are just so hard to dislike. They all have plot holes and contrivances, but they just don't matter. This is mostly because of the central duo of Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, both of whom sink back into their respective roles very swiftly. It'll never not be funny to see two complete idiots going all over time and not really knowing what they're doing, there's simply something so delightful about that. It's made even funnier here by the fact that the stakes are higher than ever yet they don't act as if it's any different to before. It's also funny to see them encounter future versions of themselves whether they're all bulked up in jail or on their deathbeds.
One other thing I liked quite a lot was the addition of their two daughters, Billie and Thea (notice anything about their names?). They have their own sub-plot where they essentially reprise the plot of the first movie but instead of gathering various historical figures for a school report, they gather some of the most talented musicians to help assist their fathers with performing the supposed song to save the world. This obviously leads to plenty of great gags in line with the original, but a big part of what makes it so good is, once again, the performances. Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine, both of whom I was unfamiliar with beforehand, were really entertaining variations on Reeves and Winter, and it didn't just feel like they were doing impressions but really doing their own thing too.
The one other thing I really liked was the visuals. Because the first two were made in the late 80s / early 90s, the technology wasn't really there to make a visually stunning experience. But here, it looks really exciting. Some of the effects were a tad cheap-looking, but most of the time, it was very visually pleasing. There's also a musical sequence towards the end, as you may expect based on the previous films, and it's nothing amazing, but really solidly put together and thoroughly upbeat.
As far as negatives go, I suppose it's obvious that you could certainly look at the plot and pick apart all the nonsense on display. While I can excuse the plot being very meandering and silly because of how enjoyable the movie was, it still means that the movie wasn't that engaging. Also, the pacing is off and drags quite a bit, and the structure too is very messy. There's also somewhat of a disposable feeling about the film, in that it'll probably go down as something I saw and enjoyed but never really thought about again, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does make the film feel slightly unimpactful.
One other thing I will mention is that the movie will probably work a lot better if you are a strong fan, which I'm not. But, does lead into one of the best things about the movie, and that is the fact that it didn't feel cynical or corporate in the slightest. Sequels that come after many years have passed usually don't tell a particularly refreshing story and end up banking off of the nostalgia that the audience has for the previous films in contrived and unearned ways, making the movie feel more like a product designed to make money. If you look at Jurassic World or some of Pixar's sequels, for example, even though I really like some of them, they feel very cynical and not as if they were made out of passion but instead because they knew people would go to see them because of fondness for the originals. Here, I don't think the same can be said. It feels so good-hearted and completely as if it was made because the creators wanted no more than to please the fans, and any callbacks to the previous films feel natural and are satisfying, and this is coming from someone who isn't overly attached to the first two Bill & Ted movies.
Overall, this movie was a silly, nonsensical and ridiculous mess, but so much fun all the while. The titular duo were as good as before, some new additions were very welcome, and there's such an infectious sense of fun that's so hard to resist. Of course it's all over the place and doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but the fact that an absurd comedy like this is coming out in the turbulent year of 2020 basically makes that stuff meaningless. I had a great time with this movie and I recommend you check it out if you're a fan or just in the mood for a good laugh.
I'm going to give Bill & Ted Face the Music a 7.0/10
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