406: Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

[00:00:00] Alright, let's get to Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey which came out in 1991, directed by Peter Hewitt. Once again stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as well as William Sadler, Josh Ackland, Pam Greer,

[00:00:12] George Carlin, and the synopsis is a tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals. This was the first time watch for me.

[00:00:25] I think first off, I don't know if there are many people if any who consider anything but the first to be the best of the franchise. I think there's a pretty clear distinction between the three

[00:00:37] in terms of overall quality. And I'd say I don't like this one, I do like it still a fair bit, but the first one is by far my favorite and I think it will always be that way. But this one was a

[00:00:49] first time watch, didn't really know anything about the story, it was just hey more Bill and Ted great I'm there. Overall I think the movie is solid, the director is different and one big

[00:01:00] thing that I mentioned a little while ago is the pacing of the movie is a big issue for me. I find it's still only about 90 minutes but it feels more like two and I think there are parts that really

[00:01:11] flow by perfectly and are great and just speedy, quick, light, easy to get through and then there are other parts in the story I don't know if that's a script issue, editing direction, I don't

[00:01:22] know. But there are parts of the movie where I'm like all right where is this going, how far are we towards the climax of the film, oh no we still have to do this first, do that first and so I think the

[00:01:30] overall direction of the middle part of the film is a bit messy and the pacing is a little off so there are points where I am phasing out somewhat but overall Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are still

[00:01:44] perfect together and I think their performances as the evil twin robots are great and then the original Bill and Ted trying bouncing off with them and the effects and the direction of that I

[00:01:56] really think that is all well done especially for the time. Everything with Death is hilarious where they outsmart him at the canyon when they are pushed off then when they play the different

[00:02:07] card games like Battleship and Twister and all that stuff I think that is so clever, so witty, just really really creative and I just was laughing hysterically at that sequence and it's probably my

[00:02:19] favorite part of the movie. The final, jumping to the end here, the final concert is great where they build the opposing good robots and then they fight them and then Bill and Ted are able to put on this

[00:02:30] amazing show and then brings the world together and that really goes back to that central idea of one song can change the world, that cliched line. I like the Wild Stallions fan name and I like their

[00:02:41] struggles at the beginning where they are really bad and the instructor or advisor is like you have to learn how to play better and then that really jump starts the rest of the film and them trying

[00:02:52] to figure out how to do it and then they go forward in time and come back and blah blah blah. So all the fantastical sci-fi stuff is pretty silly but I mean the whole movie is silly so I don't really

[00:03:03] have a problem with that. I really like the Melvin term, giving death a Melvin, that's hilarious. I like where they go to heaven, that sequence looks really good and overall I think the movie

[00:03:13] still looks pretty good in the colors, the designs, the costumes for Bill and Ted. I really like Alex Winter's crop top which I think is more so in the first film. I really like the storyline with the

[00:03:24] girlfriends where they're saying the same proposal to each of them and then the girlfriends becoming involved with the evil twins with all the sleight of hand with that. I think all that stuff is pretty

[00:03:36] enjoyable. Overall I think that the comedy is still solid. I've still found the movie to be funny but it is a pretty, not major, but clear drop off from the first. I find the first one to be way more

[00:03:49] consistently funny than this one but there are still tons of laugh out loud jokes, great performances, great deliveries, great writing but there are parts of the film that do dip a little bit with that

[00:04:01] that become a little more dry, flatter than I would like but it's not a huge deal. There is one thing in all of these movies where Bill and Ted seem to have this obsession with their moms and there's

[00:04:13] this kind of, I don't know if I want to say Oedipus complex, maybe that's going too far but it is something that is noticeable in all three, more so the first two where there is this kind

[00:04:24] of sexualizing of their mom and all that and it's a little weird but I'm not gonna harp too much on it. It's just a silly comedy movie and is what it is but that is something that struck me in all three

[00:04:36] of these films where I don't think it really needed to be there but whatever. So I feel like there's not a whole lot of other things, big standout things to really say about it because it

[00:04:46] is tonally, stylistically, character wise the same as the first but just a bit of a step down. One I still can easily go back and rewatch and enjoy. It's not one I'm like, ugh that was a disappointment,

[00:04:59] it's lame, it's not as good as the first so it sucks, I'm not like that. It is still a solid comedy just not as good as the first but I don't think there ever will be one like it. Just excellent

[00:05:10] ventures, right time, right place, right cast, right crew, right style you know and it's just one of those that was a perfect culmination of all the things that it had and you can't really redo that

[00:05:23] through force. Very worth watching if you haven't seen anything about the first or if you you know are curious about this one. I don't know if some people really hate on the movie or not, I think

[00:05:33] maybe some people are lukewarm which I get but I still really found it charming and feel good and I just love Bill and Ted as characters and the actors as well. Oh and I did quickly, I did like

[00:05:44] the opening dystopian sequence I think visually, costume production wise it's pretty vibrant and over the top and goofy but I really like that and it's partially why part of the style of the movie

[00:05:57] sticks out as so feels very 80s you know very sci-fi dystopian weird fantasy stuff so I love all that and yeah so that is a four out of five. This is the story of the wand. As a maintenance

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