~posted by Mike
On their first outing, Wyld Stallyns guitarists Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan traveled through time in a phone booth (not unlike another wacky adventurer), kidnapping historical figures for their make-or-break history project. The fate of humanity hung in the balance. Genghis Khan went bananas in a sporting goods store. It was most excellent.
Even more excellent was the direction the duo’s next film took. Unlike most sequels, which tend to crassly amplify elements of the original without offering anything new, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey boldly ventures off into uncharted and unexpected territory. There are aliens, evil robot versions of our saviors, and Primus. There are also allusions to cinematic masterpieces ranging from Ingmar Bergman to Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
Whilst on their heinous odyssey, Bill and Ted meet up with Death, who in his spare time is a bass player and aspiring rapper. To determine whether they end up in heaven or hell, Death challenges our heroes to a game. This conceit is lifted directly from Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, which features Max von Sydow playing chess with the Grim Reaper. Meanwhile, Bill and Ted play Battleship and Twister.
It’s no spoiler to say that Bill and Ted eventually make it to heaven, the entrance of which resembles the one in Powell and Pressburger’s beloved A Matter of Life and Death. Once there, they get on God’s good side by reciting Poison lyrics. It’s eerily close to my conception of the afterlife.
So venture deep into cinema history with Bill and Ted as your guides. It’s much more fun than Wayne’s World 2 (which coincidentally resembles my conception of hell).
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