Whoa.

 And now, without further ado, the final movie in the Bill and Ted trilogy:  

It's been a long time coming, in more ways than one - and I'm pleased to say that I found it well worth the wait. 

The movie starts with Bill and Ted speaking at the wedding of Missy and Ted's younger brother Deacon (I was SO CLOSE when I predicted in my previous posting that it would be a good plot hook if she married Ted) and then performing their latest failed attempt at writing the song which is going to unite the world. It appears that their (most) triumphant performance at the end of Bogus Journey was not that song, and since then Wyld Stallyns has been fruitlessly attempting to write it.

After Ted's father literally pulls the plug on their performance and berates the duo for wasting 35 years, Ted admits to Bill that he's thinking of giving up. At which point, they are dragged off to the future by Rufus' daughter Kelly, where they are informed that the song is more important than expected:  if it is not performed at exactly 7:17 on that date in the past, all of reality will be destroyed.  Time and space have already begun to unravel, with historical figures and artifacts like George Washington, Christ and the Pyramids of Cheops being pulled from their own times.  They have 77 minutes to write the song that they have been unable to complete in almost 35 years.

The duo remains unchanged in their desire for easy solutions: in this case, they plan to use the vintage phone booth time machine to visit their future selves and acquire the song after it has been written.

 

Meanwhile, their daughters, Theo and Billie, take advantage of Kelly's return to 2020 and borrow her time machine to begin putting together the ultimate band to back up their fathers' fateful performance. Full marks to Brigitte Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving as Wilhelmina "Billie" Logan and Theodora "Theo" Preston, who manage to match Reeves and Winter in their deadpan dedication as they recruit Jimmy Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, and Mozart - along with legendary Chinese flautist Ling Lun and prehistoric drummer Grom.

 

No spoilers, but I don't think it's a shock to discover that the song is performed, reality is saved, and the future remains the future - except for the bad parts involving the princesses, Open Mike Night, Dave Grohl, and prison, which probably don't happen.  Bill and Ted profess their love for their wives, Ted's father apologizes for doubting them, Death is welcomed back into the band, and Kid Cudi says "Station".

Through it all, the movie remains completely true to its origins.

It's not sarcastic, it's not cringey**, it's just silly fun, delivered in the most earnest fashion imaginable, and Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves never wink, smirk or nudge - they ARE Bill and Ted, and they portray them with the gravity and respect that they deserve, with all their doubts and honesty and love and determination - two men who will die and go to Hell to find their daughters and make everything right.

And, to quote the late Rufus: "Sometimes things don't make sense until the end of the story."

- Sid

* It's actually kind of odd to see Keanu Reeves return to the innocence of Theodore "Ted" Logan after three blood-soaked John Wick movies - you have to wonder if he found it to be a relief.

** I love Tina Fey, but I can't watch her movies because of the cringe factor.