RJ Writing Ink

A Review of Bill & Ted Face the Music

In the words of the Great Ones, 2020 has been bogus, dude. Summer is not even over, and we’ve faced a pandemic, civil unrest, and the Black Panther just died. This world needs a most excellent pick-me-up now more than ever. It needs Bill & Ted.

Only one problem: are Bill & Ted up to the challenge now?

Bill & Ted Have A Midlife Crisis

It’s been 25 years since their bogus journey to heaven and hell, and something’s gone wrong with Bill & Ted’s lives. Instead of uniting the world like they were foretold, the Wyld Stallions have been struggling to write the song that will do so. They’re barely making a living as a band, and their marriages are on the rocks. In other words, they’re becoming the losers Ted’s dad thinks they are.

As a result of their failure, Kelly, the daughter of their future guide Rufus, comes back with a warning. If they don’t write the song to unite the world in the next seventy-seven or so minutes, the paradox will cause all the universe to unravel. Bill & Ted’s solution? Go to the future and take the song from themselves.

At the start, Bill & Ted remain the good-natured dudes we know and love. But almost right immediately, we see that banging their heads trying to come up with the ultimate song for twenty-five years has left them at the end of their ropes. Ted even considers giving up at one point! Bogus!

The stress they’re under only becomes more apparent as they meet future versions of themselves. Each forthcoming Bill & Ted gets progressively worse as their lives go to hell. It would be a tad bit hilarious if it didn’t feel like a reflection of how bleak the world is now.

A Message About Not Giving Up Hope

Think about it. The year’s only 2/3rds done, but it feels like it’s broken so many people. I cried when I heard about Chadwick Boseman’s death! The thing is, though, there’s a message buried beneath the humor of the film. And its that no matter how bad things get, we should never give up. Bill & Ted never fully give up because they know that if they do, the universe will be all the worse for it. That’s not hyperbole, either; they know the universe will die if they quit.

The Wyld Stallions aren’t the smartest people we know, but they’re smart enough to know the importance of hope no matter how be things may get. But paradoxically, this film’s also about them learning to admit that they may not be the ones whose destiny it is to unite the world through music. At the film’s climax, they learn to face the music and accept that they have to leave things in the hands of the next generation. Which I still consider being a hopeful message.

Billie and Thea’s Excellent Adventure

Enter Billie and Thea, Bill and Ted’s daughters. They’re gender-bent versions of their dads, but slightly smarter and with a wider taste in music. While their dads try to find their song, the two girls embark on their journey that mirrors their dad’s excellent adventures. In this case, they use Kelly’s time machine to gather the best musicians in history for a most excellent band. I never thought I’d see Mozart rock out alongside Louis Armstrong, but here we are!

Turns out, Billie & Thea are even better at this than their dads, which leads to Bill & Ted realizing their real role is to help their daughters. It’s a touching passing the torch moment that speaks to the hope of the next generation. And it leads to an excellent concert spanning space and time.

Excellent!

The critics have spoken: Bill & Ted Face the Music is a most excellent addition to this decades-old franchise. And while it may not make the world less bogus, it came to us when we needed it the most. In a world where everything is bogus, two honest, nice guys remind us kd the importance of not giving up hope. That, and of the importance of their mantra: Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes.

I Give “Bill & Ted Face the Music” a 4/5

Click here to see my reviews for various films.

Stray Observation

I liked the fact that Kristen Schaal’s playing a time-traveler. It’s a nice, if unintentional nod to another famous character she’s played that traveled through time.

A Reflection on the Impact and Passing of Chadwick Boseman

Hello, everyone, RJ Writing Ink here. By now, I’m sure most of you will have heard the news about Chadwick Boseman. Best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s “Black Panther”, Chadwick passed away yesterday from colon cancer.

I was right in the middle of watching the new Bill and Ted movie for my review when the news broke. For a moment, it felt like my heart stopped. Like 2020 had just given the world the latest of a long line of gut punches. I was so heartbroken, I stopped the movie so I could cry about it. Even after sleeping on it, it still feels unreal. Chadwick Boseman, dead at 43? Yet, here we are now.

I loved Chadwick Boseman. I think that he was a big part of why Black Panther became the success that it did. Yeah, there was the storytelling, special effects, themes, and touching upon African Culture. However, when Chadwick Boseman came onscreen, he brought this charisma and charm to him. And from the way everyone talks about him, that was all a part of how he really was. He was just a nice guy.

What makes his death so unbelievable is the fact that almost no one seemed to know that he had cancer. I’m not even sure his co-stars knew about it, given their reactions on social media.

Chadwick Was A Real Life Hero

According to social media accounts, Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016. In other words, he spent the entire time filming Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame while enduring surgeries and chemo. In spite of all the pain he must have been going through, he never let it show. He always brought his A-Game onscreen, and that helped him become a cultural icon. For all we know, he may have known that he wasn’t going to live long enough to see Marvel make Black Panther II.

This year has seen us endure a lot of loss as it is. But the death of Chadwick Boseman seems to one of the hardest losses of all. Mark Ruffalo summed up everyone’s feelings fairly well.

I think the reason his passing has hit everyone so hard is because of how he chose to keep quiet about it. In my opinion, he knew how important his role as T’Challa was to Africans everywhere, how empowering he was. That what he was doing as the Black Panther was going to be bigger than one person. So he gave it his all, and helped make a cultural milestone.

With Chadwick’s passing, everyone’s agreeing that he was a hero both on and off-screen, and I agree. Even when he didn’t know if he would live or die, he kept moving forward and giving life everything he had. As a result, he became a hero for everyone. And I hope that once we finish mourning his death, he’ll become a legend. Rest in Power, My King. Wakanda Forever!