Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

So, of course this is just my opinion, but what made the original Bill and Ted really funny was the interaction of historical characters with present day life. That was pretty much the original premise too, being that they had to come up with a history project on how a historical figure would view society as a whole today! In this movie, they basically threw that out. I was excited when they introduced people like Edison and Bach in the beginning, but you never really interact with them or really anyone else. Instead of the fun and quirky historical characters, Bill and Ted interact with people like the Grim Reaper, two weird aliens, nightmare-inducing robots, The Devil, and even God. I was sadly laughing in my head just marveling that this was the direction they chose to go. I mean seriously? Also the ending seemed to stretch for awhile but I get that they wanted to kind of rap up the series.The movie does have some pro's though and some jokes are definitely hilarious. Bill and Ted are still Bill and Ted and both actors perform brilliantly. And it's a good movie for any Bill and Ted fans... But I just felt that this direction for a sequel seemed very... off from the original.That being said, it would be really fun to revisit the two again nowadays and see them interact with some other historical figures. I'd totally be down to see that.

First off - no I'm not a fanboy. I did watch this as a kid, but like many things seen at a young age I rediscovered this much later only to find there's really a legitimate quality to this film.Where the first one was very shallow and thin in content, this actually fills the runtime with a genuinely funny brand of humor, well in spirit of the Bill and Ted concept but not merely generic at that like the first did a lot of, and rather than just generous snort we're given proper chances to laugh it out loud. It's not just stupid, it's well-made stupid. Big difference.The story and execution are really quite a laudable quality of this movie and the film-makers really went through a lot, this isn't your average half-farted comedy sequel. At all. The scene in Hell, the personal nightmares, the earlier scenes with Death... the cinematography is actually enjoyable, not cheesy, and relevant/effective in the scope of creating a visually striking film, one than carves into the mind long term, and one that contributes directly to the overall cinematic ensemble. The pieces really fit, and the various different scenes/concepts feed right into the storyline. It's really a well made comedy.As with all strong efforts that fall short of that next step, it's a shame they didn't take this and say "well, let's make it into a full-on comedy masterpiece", as it really sincerely isn't that far from it. There's a bit of a lingering effect towards the last act, and the ending is cheesy as to be expected. If they could've filled it up with a couple more really good scenes/jokes, do up that final act a bit more and finish on something of a more memorable ending...8/10. 90's comedy (cult) classic.

The world of our distant future is a utopian one, thanks to the lyrics of two 20th Century rock and rollers, Bill and Ted.However, a villainous Joss Ackland threatens to throw history off-track by sending evil robot Bill and Teds back to kill their good counterparts.Finding themselves dead, the boys must outwit the Grim Reaper and traverse Heaven and Hell to return to the land of the living, rescue their girlfriends and win at the all-important Battle of the Bands.....Less of a film and more of a group of sketches melded together to make something quite bizarre, Bogus Journey works because of the two leads easy going style, and Sadler's wonderful camp portrayal of the Grim Reaper.For a film that is so out there, in a narrative respect, the imagery and the camera-work is truly genius.From the moment we first meet Death, it does have a lingering feeling of Bergman to it, and the make up is beautiful too at this point of the film.The depictions of Heaven and Hell are brilliant too, and the film is at it's funniest when we meet Einstein and a game of charades.It loses it's way come the end, and becomes a little too self aware, but it's still a fun throwaway movie, that can be enjoyed from time to time.But it's still the best film ever made featuring someone who is inexplicably satisfied by having a Melvin.

Sequels suck, that's true pretty much all the time except for a few rare exceptions such as GODFATHER II, THE ROAD WARRIOR, and THE DARK KNIGHT. And BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY, a follow up the smash hit...EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. It's been a long time now, but the first movie featuring the slacker Southern California duo was a big hit at the end of the 80's. The follow up came out in the summer of 1991, the same summer as TERMINATOR II: JUDGEMENT DAY (which is also a pretty good sequel and which also featured evil robots, same as BOGUS JOURNEY). Sadly, BOGUS JOURNEY flopped at the box office because culturally the 80's were over, along with Big Power Ballads and anthem rock, and the decade of Nirvana and Pearl Jam had arrived. Now, more than two decades later, with the pop culture wars of the 90' long settled, one can see how well Bill & Ted's second outing has stood the test of time.This time around, the boys are killed by their evil robot alter egos, go to hell, meet Satan, confront their worst fears, cheat the Grim Reaper, sneak into Heaven and manage to get back home in time to win The Battle of the Bands. It's just one damn thing after another as our not-nearly- as-dumb-as-they-seem heroes somehow find a way to overcome any and all predicaments. Along the way they poke fun at any number of pop culture conventions from time travel, Southern California, to the existential angst of Ingmar Bergmann. There simply is no other movie of its time quite like it. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are still perfectly over the top as the ultimate Dudes; if you can't stand their surf speak accents, then you just don't get it and never will. One of the great things about BOGUS JOURNEY is the equally outrageous characters they go up against, starting with William Sadler's Grim Reaper, whose Scandinavian accent gets thicker as he gets ever more exasperated. Joss Ackland does a send up of super villains as Chuck De Nomolos; why wasn't he ever cast as a bad guy in a Bond movie? As it is, both Sadler and Ackland had great turns as villains in the DIE HARD and LETHAL WEAPON sequels. George Carlin returns as Rufus, winking at the audience, as if to say he knows he's selling out, but knows he'll be forgiven just the same.Then there's Missy, the two bodacious princess babes, the evil usses, Station, Melvined, Pam Grier, Clue, Twister and Battleship, Granny S. Preston Esquire, Colonel Oats, Spy magazine, Every Rose Has It's Thorn and God Gave Rock 'N Roll To You II. To see BOGUS JOURNEY now is to stand with your back against one decade (the 80's), with another (the 90's) out in front. Every now and then, there is talk of Winter and Reeves reuniting for another BILL & TED, but I think they should quit while they're ahead.