When Bill & Ted Face the Music was released in 2020, as a completist, I realized that I would have to rewatch Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey because too much time had passed for me to accurately maintain any mental continuity and integrity in recalling the storylines and truly appreciate the latest installment of the franchise. Unfortunately the pandemic’s effects has kept me so busy that it is hard to even watch one television show episode, forget three movies in a row, but I somehow set aside enough energy and time to do it in chronological order.
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is the second and best installment in the franchise. A villain from the future send two evil robots back in time to assassinate the titular characters, who are now adults trying to forge their way in the world though they have no musical skills and little to no money, and change the future so Bill and Ted have to figure out how to stop them even though they are not as strong or smart as the Evil Usses. Instead of traveling through time, they take a surreal, spiritual and spatial journey to save the future on their usual plane of existence.
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey was released in 1991, two years after the first installment, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The titular characters are effectively compared and contrasted with the Evil Usses to continue to decry toxic masculinity. The Evil Usses are rapey, violent towards living creatures, homophobic and destructive. Bill and Ted embody kindness even to those who are trying to hurt them, “Even though you’re doing this, we love you.” Their friendship is so powerful that they end up befriending the most unlikely character. Their passport on the spiritual plane is their lack of self-condemnation or intimidation in the face of overwhelming odds, their openness and lack of shame about their weakness and their ability to engage anyone as human beings regardless of their status. They respect their girlfriends’ sexual boundaries. When they do something wrong, they know it, confess it, apologize and do not repeat it. Bill and Ted are more like Jesus figures in this film though in the first installment, there were echoes of these themes such as “Be excellent to each other” though it was less obvious.
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey stands out because the supporting cast is just as interesting and hilarious as the titular characters. Though George Carlin is a comedic legend, his depiction of Rufus, their guide through time travel, is limited. Unlike the other installations, the second film actually has a formidable, classic, fascist villain, De Nomolos, and the brilliant, scene stealing William Sadler as the Grim Reaper, the best character outside of Bill and Ted. The Grim Reaper starts off as a formidable, intimidating figure with heavy allusions to Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, but he becomes more humanized as we discover his insecurities and becomes a relatable character. Most of us cannot be Bill and Ted blissfully navigating the world untouched and confident in spite of the obstacles in our way. The Grim Reaper wants community, but can only get it through using his power to force people to be with him. He is also a sore loser, but a lonely one very conscious of his status and reputation. He is a better foil for the famous duo than the Evil Usses because through his interaction with the two, he finds another way of existing that leads him to community, joy and abundance. The Grim Reaper is a lovely character study in how to become a better person without necessarily giving up your rough edges. I loved the Grim Reaper’s saltiness. Sadler also makes a brief cameo later in the film as an English husband and father.
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is an amazing spoof movie. It uses the Terminator franchise as a great jumping point for the shenanigans that create the momentum of the film, but it also tackles popular culture depictions of heaven and hell in counterintuitive ways that are not always played for laughs. In an unexpected twist, my mom accidentally ended up watching the film and enjoyed the depiction of the spiritual world so much that she thought it deserved an Academy Award. While I would not exactly go that far in praising the film, it is definitely the most intelligent and thoughtful film in the franchise as it tries to answer: how do ordinary people defeat evil without becoming evil? How do you identify evil in yourself and others without completely vilifying and destroying those that stand in your way?
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey tangentially explores the possibility of space travel and life on other planets then confronts human bias regarding the diversity of existence and brilliance in the entire universe. The actual result is uneven though it could have been an inspiration for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Groot, but I enjoyed the gentle rebuke and am actually disappointed that the third movie did not explore space travel, which seemed like the natural next step.
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is not a perfect movie. It does feel as if it loses momentum in the last half hour, and if a viewer thinks too much about the denouement, it kind of does not make sense when De Nomolos constantly tries to one up Bill and Ted with time travel role playing narration. Also when our heroes defeat the Evil Usses, there is dissonance when they use a word that is now considered a slur to declare triumph, but when viewed through our current moral lens, seems more aligned with the Evil Usses’ values.
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey continues the bestowing of authority to black characters. Taj Mahal, another famous musician, plays Heaven’s Gatekeeper. Pam Grier, who is styled like a What’s Love Got to Do With It iteration of Tina Turner, has a brief, but memorable role as the concert’s talent recruiter though later on you may ask yourself if the role was actually an elaborate, inadvertent blackface moment. Grier looks great so I am not mad, but I am also not letting the film entirely off the hook for that plot twist.
Missy appears in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey slightly more empowered and finally with friends, but still problematic in the way that she is primarily depicted as a trophy wife and sex object. She shares the stage with the titular characters’ love interests, the princesses. Joanna and Elizabeth are strange because they are talented and successful with the financial means to own a nice car and have a place of their own. How? Did they bring some wealth with them when they time travelled? How can they have the same life as Bill and Ted yet not the same conditions? I am overthinking the story, aren’t I?
To truly enjoy Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, you should watch the first movie, but you do not have to watch the last unless you are curious to find out how the Grim Reaper is doing. If you only have time for one movie and are comfortable with not knowing everything when jumping suddenly into the middle of the story, then this film is for you.
