Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Kristen Schaal, Samara Weaving, Bridgette Lundy- Paine, Holland Taylor, William Sadler, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Hal Lindon Jr, Kid Cudi, Jillian Bell
Distributor: Madman Films
Runtime: 91 mins. Reviewed in Dec 2020
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It is not as if Bill and Ted have been absent from cinema and television consciousness for the 30 years since their popular excellent adventures and bogus journeys. During the decades there have been series, animated series, documentaries and spoofs. So, in many ways, it is not surprising to find them returning in the 21st-century.
Obviously, this is a film for their many fans (now three decades older) as well as those who have enjoyed the re-runs on television. However, the anticipation has led to disappointment for many, who found the film did not recreate the buzz they felt on first encounter. Of course, many have welcomed this sequel.
In many ways, it depends on how audiences responded to Bill and Ted in the first place, their personalities, their way of communicating, ‘most excellent’, their being adventurers of the 1980s, not exactly stuck in their time because they could time travel, perhaps stuck in the music of the time despite their ambitions to do more and better.
And, in many ways, it all depends on how an audience responds to Keanu Reeves after all these years. He takes on some stilted mannerisms in his presentation of Ted, often an awkward kind of presence. On the other hand, Alex Winter (who has devoted much of his subsequent career to direction and documentaries) seems rather more relaxed in resuming the role. They do have plenty of opportunities to portray variations on their characters, variously seen in the near future, as irresponsible nerds, as fake POMS, as more genial bed-ridden oldies in a nursing home, and at times in a much more distant future.
There is opportunity to meet their wives again, who themselves come from the past. But, a touch more excitingly, there are their two daughters who show a lot of vitality, eagerness for music, admiration for their fathers – and contributing to the quest for finding the music that will unite the world.
So, Bill and Ted go on time travelling adventures again, trying to discover the music they composed (taking it from the future back to the past where they haven’t composed it and finding this difficult), and being pursued by a robot from the future (who humanises in shame for his bad behaviour) as well as the leader from 700 years hence and her daughter, time travelling to fix the situation.
Actually, the daughters take the situation in hand, doing quite a lot of time travelling themselves, deciding to assemble the best band ever, back to the 60s for Jimi Hendrix, back to the 1920s for Louis Armstrong, back to the 1780s for Mozart, back to ancient Chinese times for a flutist, back to prehistoric times for a literal rock drummer. And, would you believe, yes, of course, they finish up in the hellish nether regions with another encounter with Death and his musical ambitions and frustrations (William Sadler being a good sport and appearing again).
So, Bill and Ted contribute to saving the world as they face the music.
Peter Malone MSC
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