Sunday 5 May 2019

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

I really liked Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure so it was only a matter of time — or rather, a matter of finding the film — before I watched its sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

Two years after the events of the first film, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) have somehow managed to graduate from high school and be accepted into college, and, although they are still struggling, they are on their way to becoming rock stars. In the future, however, there's a man, Chuck De Nomolos (Joss Ackland), who hates the Utopian society they created and sends two evil robots disguised as Bill and Ted to kill human Bill and Ted, take over their lives and change the future. 

And it makes perfect sense if you consider the ridiculous pieces of clothing people are forced to wear in the future. Jokes aside, while it's a lot dumber and way, way less informative than its predecessor's, the story is still quite engaging and entertaining, especially the plot that sees human Bill and Ted in the afterlife interacting with Death 

Just like the plot, the characters of Bill and Ted too are dumber than they were in the first film — I didn't think it was possible but it is, as it turned out. The robots at times even seem dumber than human Bill and Ted though — but they still are lovable and both Winter and Reeves are amazing in their roles as they give such charming and humorous performances and share terrific chemistry. There's also an array of new, crazy characters, the Grim Reaper — a parody of Ingmar Bergman's Death in Seventh Seal — being the funniest of the bunch thanks to William Sadler's hilarious performance. The bodacious princess babes are still pretty bland though and the actresses very unconvincing. 

Orion Pictures
The comedy is yet again juvenile to say the least, there are jokes that fall flat, some others are just plain silly and some gags that don't work as good as they should have, but overall it's quite enjoyable, and it does a fairly good job at poking fun at its own absurdities. Ultimately, the film is not as good as Bill & Ted Excellent Adventure, but it's a pretty solid, enjoyable sequel that it's dumb in a funny and kind of relaxing way. 

2 comments:

  1. This is one of those rare films where I think it's better than its predecessor. Mainly because Bill and Ted grow up a bit but also maintain their stupidity in some ways.

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    1. I didn’t like this one more than the original but it’s not a terrible sequel and I’m now really looking forward to seeing the third film.

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