Movie Review: "Bill and Ted Face the Music" is a Most Triumphant Time

Very non-heinous.

I don’t know if you believe in destiny, but there’s certainly something fateful about Bill and Ted Face the Music arriving 29 years after the last entry in the saga and ten years since the principals started talking publicly about a third instalment, at what appears to be a tipping point for humanity. Like: Really, after all this time, right now?

In it, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winters reprise their roles as Ted and Bill, the articulate-ish teenage slackers of 1989’s Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and 1991’s Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. This time, they’re middle-aged dads struggling to accept the fact their musical careers have fizzled out, especially since visitors from the future once said they would someday write a song to unite the world. It looks, however, that they failed, as reality itself has begun folding in on itself, giving them just 90 minutes to pen a universe-saving single. Unfortunately, "We Are the World" didn't do the trick either.

Meanwhile, in our actual reality, protests and riots rage; contentious political polarisation divides nations; there’s, um, a pandemic going on. And here we are, at the precipice of what is increasingly feeling like the season finale to Earth, with Bill and Ted Face the Music one of the few films even in cinemas. Would it be too much pressure to hope for one movie to unite the world today? Probably, but to be totally honest with you, Face the Music is a decent shot. Exceedingly good-natured and led by two actual sweetie-pies, Bill and Ted—with their mantra "be excellent to each other"—are unexpectedly the exact heroes we need now. Funnily enough, this may be the only time in history that will be true.

Face the Music is directed by Dean Parisot and written by the first two pictures’ authors, Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon (and produced by unexpected "cheerleader" Steven Soderbergh). They succeed by keeping what worked about the originals (a brisk 90-minute running time; a 'just go with it' amiability among the cast; guitar solos) and jettisoning previous failed experiments (the overall bad vibes of Bogus Journey; the characters not time travelling; Death rapping). With the exception of some questionable CGI and green-screen (not unique to this sequel), it’s a thrifty, twisty adventure that makes more sense than Tenet and cares less, except in a charming way. The priority here is having a good time, not a long or logical one.

Its new additions are genius, with Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine fantastic mimics of their respective movie dads. Weaving plays Bill’s daughter 'Theadora' while Lundy-Paine plays Ted’s progeny Billie, and they go on a sidequest that recalls the most superior first entry, journeying back in time to form a backing band with Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, Mozart, Ling Lun and, er, Kid Cudi. (Hey, "Day N Nite" still slaps.) The best of the newcomers is Barry scene-stealer Anthony Carrigan, as a robot assassin who goes on an existential journey of self-actualisation. Explaining more about him than that would ruin the fun, and there’s so much to be had.

The real arc belongs to Reeves and Winter, of course, who slide back into their old avatars with ease (Winter, in particular, though maybe because we’ve seen Reeves do so much else over the decades). Bill and Ted get the bright idea to travel forward in time to steal their unifying song from future versions of themselves, discovering that, every few years, they become worse and worse people because of their selfish single-mindedness. Not only does it give the two actors opportunity to depict further variations on Bill and Ted (with more nuance than the evil robot "us’s" from Bogus Journey), it allows Face the Music to be a commentary on getting older, and itself.

Plus, it leads directly to a welcome reunion with ex-bandmate and current hell-dweller Death, once again played by the hilarious William Sadler, whom the end credits reveal to be a producer on this thing too, just like superfan Soderbergh and Winter as well. Let’s not be cynical: it helps that so many people fought to get a third Bill and Ted made, because it’s clear everyone involved, new and old, wants to be here, and that includes the audience too, wherever—and whenever—they may be watching from.

4/5

Bill and Ted Face the Music arrives in Australian cinemas 10 September. Rated PG for mild themes, violence and coarse language.