Review of Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) by Samichsupernova — 28 Aug 2020

I first off want to thank Steven Soderbergh for stepping in to get this movie made. This is really something special. An absurdist masterpiece 29 years in the making. They did it. They achieved the impossible. Bill & Ted Face the Music is not only a proper conclusion to this most heinous of sagas, but a singular and rare example of A Good Sequel That Doesn't Ruin Its Beloved Characters, which, as demonstrated here, shouldn't be such a high bar for Hollywood to hit. Reflect for a moment that in these days of milking franchises till they're dry, quality characters, quickly-paced plotting, and naturalistic performances are hard to come by, doubly so in the under-explored sub-genre of absurdist sci-fi buddy comedy sequels released 29 years later.

It's even rarer for said well-written, well-acted, absurdist sci-fi comedy sequels to have a heart and soul, and this one has two beating hearts named Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, who embody their iconic roles perfectly. (Its soul resides in themes uncovered by the daughters' journey, which I'll get to later.) I was practically cringing at this film's trailer, which somehow didn't sell me on its aging leads' ability to embody and recapture the wide-eyed, innocently boyish, lovable heroes they perfected in 1989 and reprised in 1991.

Thankfully, the trailer doesn't spoil the movie's best moments, nor does it give away too much of the plot, a miracle in this day and age.

It's also miraculous that the film manages to weave in the existential crises inherent with over two decades' worth of unfulfilled potential and unrealized dreams without ever being morose, downbeat, or cynical, and without losing sight of Bill and Ted. For all of 2020's crises, there is hope inherent in the fact that Bill and Ted never once gave up trying to write the song. They spent 25 (in-film) years, most marked by failure, and in their first scene, which is goofy, transcendent, tragic, and sweet all at once, they demonstrate that they've explored the boundaries of music with an outrageous theremin-throat singing-bagpipe performance that's several hundred years ahead of its time.

(Yes, the film retcons some aspects of Bogus Journey's epilogue in a clarifying introduction.).

There are jokes to be had at our protagonists' expense, but to their credit, original co-creators and writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson and veteran director Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) display that most important trait of sci-fi storytellers: the ability to say "what if?" and go ham for 92 minutes of balanced crests and troughs that keep the plot moving at a quick clip. I didn't get to see any of the behind-the-scenes stuff, but I'm sure the filmmakers enlisted Winter's and Reeves' help to explore a number of different versions of the iconic characters in a delightful series of encounters. There isn't a single scene in this film where Winter and Reeves don't seem to be having the time of their lives revisiting these characters. It's worth watching for that, and their chemistry, alone. There's some sort of righteous alchemy here between the pair.

Bill & Ted, and their affable, smart, and understandably music-obsessed offspring, go on very different journeys in this film. As I said, if Bill and Ted are the film's beating heart, ever resilient and hopeful through years of disappointments, Thea and Billie's journey provides the film with its soul. Here, the theme of music as the great bridge between people is explored, through aural delights and cinematic scenes to wonderful to be spoiled with mere words. Jamming, call-and-response, teaching, rivalries, announcements, propositions, a wordless cry of raw expression and emotion - if you have deep feelings about music and its place in the history of the human experience, you might just be touched by this constant theme, which is interwoven with a story that, stripped of its sci-fi trappings, could be taken straight out of a blues song.

The storytelling branches out and keeps on pulling at new, surprising, and silly threads until it reaches its delightful and totally earned climax, an ending so stirring that it left Kevin Smith in tears.

This film hits differently to people who grew up on the originals, and it hits especially well if you've just seen those films back to back, like my wife and I did. In almost every way (I lamented the recasting of the wives!), Bill & Ted Face the Music fits in 100% with the first two Bill & Ted films, redeems any missteps in Bogus Journey, tickles the funny bone, and boldly goes for the heart. I'm overjoyed just typing out those words. Step aside, Star Wars. Make way, Lord of the Rings. Indiana Jones, take a hike. Bill & Ted is now an epic film trilogy, one I find easy to recommend wholeheartedly to almost anyone.

I will love and treasure Bill & Ted Face the Music as long as I live. Thank you to all involved for making this passion project a reality.