A Bill & Ted retrospect, Part II: "The Bogus Journey"

When Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure came out in 1988, it stood as one of my films to be forever associated with the 80's. No one would ever guess that movie came from a different decade.

Fast forward to the year 1990. It has been two years since the release of the previous film. The 80's are now in America's memory as a decade where everyone just wanted to have fun. Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, the writers of the first film begin to write a sequel. Pete Hewitt joins the production with it being only his second directorial effort. The stage is set for a 1991 release.

THE PLOT

L-R: Bill, Death and ted

The film takes place three years after the first film. I guess the movies also progress in real time. Bill and Ted are living in their own apartment and trying to enter the local Battle of the Bands competition to win a recording contract and start their careers as rock superstars. However, fast forward to the year 2691. A man by the name of Chuck De Nomolos has orchestrated a plot to change the Wyld Stallyns' fate forever by creating two evil androids of Bill and Ted and sending them back in time to 1991 San Dimas to, as the robots themselves said, "totally kill Bill & Ted, take over their lives and utterly destroy them". They then would play the Battle of the Bands competition themselves and give a speech that would've immortalized the duo, but instead destroy their images and prevent them from become rock phenoms.

After the robots succeed in killing Bill and Ted under false pretenses, the duo attempt to reenter their lives, refusing to believe their dead; even dodging the Grim Reaper along the way. However, they soon learn that no one can any longer see them or hear them. During a false attempt to communicate with people during a seance, Bill and Ted are banished and they're sent to Hell. That's right, Hell. As in the Hell. When they arrive, they each view their own personal Hell, and realize the ultimatum. They play the Grim Reaper in a series of games to determine whether, right out of The Seventh Seal.

THE CHARACTERS
While Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure had a bizarre cast of characters, it worked so well because you were creating scenarios in your head the whole way throughout the movie about what it would be like if those historical figures actually met each other. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey on the other hand, takes characters that exist on a different plane, or don't exist at all and mixes them together.

Death (William Sadler) playing Clue with Bill and Ted

First off, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves return as Bill and Ted, and rightfully so because these movies would not be even watchable without those two. Next, George Carlin returns as Rufus. Except this time he's not a "sage" like character. Instead, he sort of joins Bill and Ted on their adventure. He's not offering advice to them like the last film, because he has none. This is as much his enemy as it is theirs.

Next, William Sadler was brought in to do the stellar portrayal of the Grim Reaper. The Reaper, or "Death" as he is often referred to in the film, first starts out as we've all imagined him. An embodiment of a ferry that helps souls travel to the afterlife. Soon, the movie takes a wicked crazy turn when it turns him into a comedic punchline and a personal friend of Bill and Ted...and even a member of their band at the very end. Joss Ackland joins the cast as Chuck De Nomolos, the villain of the film. He's on a one-man mission to eliminate Bill and Ted from the history books and rewrite himself as humanity's new salvation, with the aid of the evil robot Bill and Ted, both played Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves.

The princesses form Medieval England have also returned from the first film, but they're different actresses. They're your typical damsels in distress. Capt. Logan returns, still played by Hal Landon, Jr. Amy Stock-Poynton returns as Bill's stepmom, Missy...who strangely enough has divorced Bill's dad and married Ted's.

Evil Bill & Evil Ted, still played by Winter and Reeves

Aside from them you have nameless actors voicing God, the Devil and various other small characters. All in all, the movie was thrown into a wicked different direction, character-wise. Instead of having a funny-lighthearted tone to the characters, they all seem like darker clones of themselves. Even Bill and Ted started dressing in grunge clothes. Still, I can't complain. The update was necessary. Trying to make sequel to 80's movie both produced and set in 1991 wasn't easy, so they had to update with the times. It worked well! Everything seems very grunge and very dark. A new step in a different direction that was surprisingly satisfying.

THE SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack is essentially the same type of music; hard rock and heavy metal. Easily my favorite song off the soundtrack is Winger's contribution of "Battle Stations". In the film it plays when a Martian Bill and Ted meet in heaven (ironically named "Station") purchases hardware supplies to build "Good Robots Bill & Ted" and build them in the back of their van. It's a great montage and the song is fantastic.

THE VERDICT
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is a mixed bag. Personally, I love it almost as much as Excellent Adventure. However, I've met a few people that love the first movie and don't like this one very much. It's a commonplace with sequels to be inferior to the first film, but for me, Bogus Journey is just as entertaining. Its just a different film altogether. Its filmed differently, the characters are different, the mood is different; the adventure is the main difference, and that's the key point here. It is a complete one-eighty from the previous film. Two very different quests with very different characters make for two very different films, and that's fine for anyone's preference.

4.25 stars out of 5: Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, while not as strong as the first film in its overall presentation, will still leave you satisfied and give you a wild ride of an adventure.