Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020)

Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020)

Dir. Dean Parisot

I've not featured Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) on the 7th and Last because, simply put, I hated it. I mention it now only because it's somewhat necessary to have seen it to understand the relationship between Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) and the Grim Reaper (William Sadler), all of whom returned for Face the Music (2020).

The titular duo's destiny, as foretold in Excellent Adventure (1989) — which is to write a song so emotionally stirring that it'll unite all of humanity in glorious, peaceful harmony — hasn't happened. The world is largely unchanged, as are Bill and Ted, except that they're older and each has a daughter - that's them on the cover art: Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Samara Weaving).

The initial promotions had me worried that it would be another example of Hollywood trying to force some element of gender-swapping, but happily the story avoids that. And while I didn't warm to the new duo much at all, they didn't feel like they were in the way, and they'd a genuinely vital, complementary role to play in the story.

It's as silly as the first film, which is a good thing because it allows the work's true strengths, which are once again found in its relationships, to rise to the fore like a light in dark times.

Both Bill and Ted face the realisation that their present selves haven't lived up to the potential of their past selves and the role that destiny set for them. They feel like they've failed themselves and the world, in general. It sounds gloomy when written down, but the film works it in beautifully, without it seeming discouraging for the audience, and as onlookers we can see that their enduring friendship and love for each other and their family is a special kind of success.

The theme of 'big tied up with small' is found in the narrative elsewhere, too, in various forms; e.g., how professional goals (musicians) and personal goals (wives) relate to each other. Luckily for the lifelong friends, destiny allows its pawns some wiggle room, which Bill and Ted make best use of – albeit in a way that they themselves don't fully understand at the time.

It occasionally feels like Keanu struggled to fit back into the 'slacker' shoes as comfortably as Alex did, but the magic they had together back in the day is nevertheless still present in many scenes. In fact, it's when they're onscreen together, mirroring each others thoughts and mulling over challenging (for them) concepts that Face the Music is at its best. During those times it recaptures the magic and the love that made Excellent Adventure so special to a generation.

The daughters aren't the only new cast members, but most of the others are also well-implemented: George Carlin's replacement (Kristen Schaal) won me over from the start, and while Anthony Carrigan's character took a little longer, by the end he'd earned maximum praise.

I know nothing about Kid Cudi, but he's clearly a real-life music artist and not a natural actor. I don't know why he was chosen for the role, specifically, or if he brought anything extra to the underlying concepts that I was wholly oblivious to, but his inclusion as a 'real world' artist meant little to me. I mean no offence to the real life individual. I don't follow modern music trends at all, so I'd have had the same reaction to about 90% of artists in the mainstream charts today.

Speaking of music, the artists/bands chosen for the soundtrack aren't very representative of the duo's personality. If it was possible to explore the vinyl record collection that's seen in the garage/practice room, I don't think albums from many of those artists would be found there.

I won't go into the story, other than to say that the journeys undertaken by the oldies and their offspring go in two different directions, but are two halves of the same ultimate goal.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. I wish my cousin had been around to share the experience with me, but that wasn't possible, so this post is dedicated to his memory. I think he'd be pleased about that.

- With age comes wisdom, of a sort.-