These are two of those films that you can just put on, laugh with and just have a grand old time watching. They won’t change the world, they don’t take themselves very seriously and they’re kind of stupid when you look at them. But they’re super fun and really great. Here’s hoping they finally get around to that third film one day!
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Alex Winter is Bill S. Preston and Keanu Reeves is Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan, and together they are Wyld Stallyns, a terrible rock duo who do as badly at school as they do in their band. However, hundreds of years in the future the two are worshipped by a utopian society as heroes that brought peace to the universe. Pretty excellent right? Only, the problem is that they are about fail their history class and none of this future will come to pass. So George Carlin’s Rufus travels back in time in his phonebooth time machine to help the two slackers pass their test and save the future! My word, what an epic and ridiculous story.
With a premise like that and characters like Bill and Ted, you know it’s not going to be a serious movie. Which means you can just switch your brain off and enjoy it, which makes it all the more great. Bill and Ted are extremely likable characters. Even though they are dropouts and pretty dim, they are decent guys and they’re really really funny. The little air guitar riffs, the synchronised catchphrases and the constant ‘go with the flow’ attitude all make them so endearing to watch. And seeing them travel through time to pick up various historical figures such as Napoleon and Socrates for their history report makes for one seriously funny film. It’s all just so… excellent!
JACK’S SCORE: 4/5
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991)
Bill and Ted passed their history exam, but their band Wyld Stallyns is still failing and with battle of the bands coming up, they need to get better! Also causing problems is Joss Ackland, a dude from the future who hates Bill and Ted so sends evil robot versions of them back in time to kill them and ruin their lives. And they do. Bill and Ted becomes ghosts and go to hell where they must struggle against Death himself to get back to their lives and defeat the evil Bill and Ted. It’s another totally crazy story and yet again, it works so well and is utterly hilarious. I think I may actually slightly prefer this one over the previous film, but that may be controversial.
William Sadler plays Death and he is great. He’s such a strange character and he plays off of Bill and Ted perfectly. They have some really hilarious scenes together and Death comes close to stealing the show. The story takes a few twists and turns and has the most awesome conclusion ever, featuring some mental time travel shenanigans and some hilarious moments. It’s all just so great. It follows the first film really well and sets up the future seen in both films perfectly. And much like the first film, it’s all EXCELLENT!
JACK’S SCORE: 4/5
Jack-Types-Stuff 