Bill & Ted Face the Music

Almost 30 years since their last adventure, Bill and Ted return in the ominously titled Bill & Ted Face the Music. Pointing towards the finale of both the plot and the franchise, this unexpected third instalment hits just the right notes.

Keanu Reeves (Ted) and Alex Winter (Bill) slip back into their loveable, goofy roles so comfortably, so easily, that you almost wonder if this is their natural state, their public personas merely a charade. The pair is supported by an impressive cast, including the equally dopey and perfectly-matched Samara Weaving (Thea, middle name Theodore, Ted’s daughter) and Brigette Lundy-Paine (Billie, Bill’s daughter).

As the rock duo approach middle age and the prophecy of the first two films remains unfulfilled, the inseparable buddies, along with their offspring, must once again embark on a musical odyssey through time to save the universe. With their wacky habits and oddball behaviour still intact, however, the plot isn’t quite as simple as finally writing the song that’s destined to unite the world.

You don’t have to be a fan of Bill and Ted to enjoy this movie (although of course it helps). Returning characters are helpfully reintroduced as new characters’ eyes are used as a prism to view the franchise afresh.

Without quite being the pair’s most excellent adventure, and as a sequel made almost three decades after the last instalment, can Face the Music live up to a legacy cherished by fans of their earlier hits? Yes way! Eliding sweetness with zaniness, as is the titular duo’s wont, this third adventure happily manages to retain the endearing qualities (if not the effortless hilarity) of its antecedents.

Jake Cudsi

Bill & Ted Face the Music is released nationwide on 16^th September 2020.

Watch the trailer for Bill & Ted Face the Music here: