This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Party On, Dudes!
Plot Overview
Has-been musicians Bill Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted Logan (Keanu Reeves) can't even entertain their own family at the wedding of Ted's younger brother Deacon (Beck Bennett) to family groupie Missy (Amy Stoch), much less unite the whole world in song as had been predicted of them. They receive a time-traveling emissary Kelly (Kristen Schaal,) daughter of their guide Rufus from a former adventure, who transports them 700 years into the future to meet with the “Great Ones,” one of whom, Kelly's mom The Great Leader (Holland Taylor,) admonishes them to get on the ball and write the predicted song before reality as we know it unravels.
Bill and Ted co-opt a used
time machine to take them slightly into their own future planning
to steal the song from themselves after they have written
it—their future loser selves are up against the same brick wall.
The Great Leader figuring they've bolted sends a cyborg calling itself
Dennis (Anthony Carrigan) back through time to assassinate them. Kelly
tries to find them to intervene. Bill and Ted's princess wives
Elizabeth “Liz” (Erinn Hayes) and Joanna “Jo”
(Jayma Mays) join their future selves looking for a time line in which
to better enjoy their loser husbands. And Bill and Ted's daughters
Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) borrow Kelly's
time machine to help round up historical personages and instruments
for their fathers' needed group. It all goes to hell.
Ideology
Ted recites his motto, “Be excellent to each other” as they begin their quest. That would generally correspond to the words of Jesus—who appears in cameo: (Matt. 5:43-44) “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
The Lord elaborates, (Matt. 5:45-48) “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
The publicans (historically corrupt tax collectors) don't have a very high bar to surmount; a further example could be found here at the wedding toasts:
Bill: “Hello, friends and loved ones.”Ted: “Let us welcome you to this most joyous of occasions.”
Bill: “Ted and I have known Missy in different capacities for many decades. First, she was our babysitter when we were 10.”
Ted: “Then we both invited her to the prom when she was a senior and we were freshmen.”
Bill: “Two years later, she married my dad, and Missy became Mom.”
Ted: “After divorcing Bill's dad, she married my dad and became my mom.”
Bill: “Yeah. And now she's marrying Ted's little brother, Officer Deacon Logan.”
[Missy and Deacon kiss as the crowd applauds]Ted: “Missy, Bill and I, along with my beautiful wife Elizabeth and our daughter Billie—”
Bill: “—and my beautiful wife Joanna and our daughter Thea, all wanna welcome you back—”
Bill, Ted: [in unison] “—with open arms!”
Bill: “This happy event would seem to make Deacon his own father-in-law. And Ted his own uncle.”
Ted: “Not to mention making my dad his own son.”
Of course they welcomed Missy back. It's
not a very high bar. More challenging was their reunion with pale
Death (William Sadler) who had had a falling out with Bill and Ted
after they kicked him out of their band Wyld
Stallyns for performing overlong bass solos. When he tried
to take the name of the band with him, they sued him and then got
a restraining order against him. If they can welcome him back, we
might begin to see more harmony in the world.
Germane
to the unifying song would be, (Matt. 5:45) “... your Father which
is in heaven: ... maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” The sun that
rises on all does so on account of the Earth's rotation, its roll
as it were. And it's the heliocentric geometry, with the Earth's
tilt on its axis while revolving around the sun, that produces a virtual
rocking motion with respect to the sun in the sky: summer–winter,
summer–winter, the poles switching orientation, causing
the seasons, i.e. rainfall.
This rock and roll beat dominates everybody under the sun whether
evil or good and can be manifested in song and dance.
Add up the recurring days and seasons, we get a continuing history for our reality, as described in a Nick Seeley novel:
You and I, we live in a world of words. They give us shape, they bend time into an orderly line, progressing from “long, long ago” and “once upon a …,” up through “the modern era” and “now, today,” and then on to “tomorrow” and “some day, when ….” A great chain of history, forged of language. (280)“Face the Music” gives it a coherent rhythm.
Production Values
“” (2020) is the third Bill & Ted installment that started with “Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure” followed by, “Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey,” and now this one. It was directed by Dean Parisot. Its screenplay was written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, developed from earlier material. It stars Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Kristen Schaal, Samara Weaving, and Brigette Lundy-Paine. Reeves and Winter made good leads. The cast as a whole contributed a lot of buoyant, creative energy.
MPAA rated it PG–13 for some language. The plot has more twists in it than does a Greek drama. A time-traveling, armed robot provides a convenient deus ex machina to break up knotty intrigues. The humor largely derives from the many paradoxes. Family paradoxes are tackled by their shrink Dr. Wood (Jillian Bell) scheduling additional sessions. Time travel paradoxes are handled by the players not thinking them through. Historical paradoxes are handled by the audience not bothering to think about them. Creative block is handled by passing the torch to the next generation. And a robot that wants to join the band is given a dance number: the robot. There's an additional jam session at Peaceful Pastures after the end credits. The special effects are awesome.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This latest Bill & Ted adventure is a continuation of the others. The principals have not grown up, and their daughters are just like them spending all their time grooving to the music—while munching on Cheetos. Only the wives have real jobs, which might suit modern women more than medieval princesses. The music in this movie is a work in progress, except for some historical gems. This movie can be appreciated on several grounds and might appeal to mixed groups looking for a compromise viewing experience.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Absolutely amazing special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture taken from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Seeley, Nick. Cambodia Noir. Copyright © 2016 by Nick Seeley. New York: Scribner, 2016. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org