Review of Bill And Ted´s Bogus Journey

Introduction

Bill and Ted have reached the second crucial point in their destiny and a message is about to reach millions, but De Nomolos plans to shape the future by sending evil clones of the two back in time in order to dispose of the real Bill and Ted and wrecking the possible outcome of a most excellent future. The evil Bill and Ted succeed in their task and aim to displease their babes now that the duo is out of action. But on meeting the Grim Reaper, the real Bill and Ted find out that the only way back and to have another stab at life is to challenge and beat Death at a contest but if they lose they remain in the afterlife.

Video

This bogus journey is presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 and gives off a good contrast in visuals and imagery throughout. In the opening scene the colours are vibrant and eye catching on the futuristic costumes and the set is a conference type room with consoles arranged around a centrepiece where the phone box magically appears. The darker scenes are bold in colour as expected and although a softer look to them, detail is not lost and the picture can be seen clearly still. There is no apparent grain or dropout in the picture transfer and is quite cleaned apart from a general softness to the picture in whole and not of a higher quality bit rate as on some DVDs.
The slight soft picture doesn’t put down the visual effects though and ones like the facemasks that get taken off to reveal robot faces, and the phone box are clearly good and realistic looking. Once Bill and Ted have died their pale complexion makes them look like black and white, chalky images and not a part of the living, kind of ‘animated’ and done well for what needs to be portrayed.
The locations, sets and other visuals are quite fetching and have different contrasts between them. Bill and Ted’s apartment room is messy and ‘dingy’ and with everything crammed in I guess, the desert scenes are all sand, dryness, dust and towering rocks a very solitude destination for Bill and Ted’s death. The opening future scene is all whitewashed and open spaced but a bit unrealistic, the Devil’s lair presents a lot of fiery red colours but surprisingly don’t run and stay crisp-edged (try to imagine the VHS version, argh!) The face of the Demon itself is good as are the surrounding rocks and metal pieces that also add to the scene.
I thought that Death’s cold looking chamber was done well, coloured blues and greys go with the dark shadows and Death’s cloak, the scene very fogged and dimly lit appropriately. The Heaven location/set is futuristic and impressive, very brightly lit and features huge pillars and white haze around everything.

Audio

The audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and does make use of those rear speakers for the likes of echo effects and surround ambience, the school conference looking scene at the start includes echo effects as does Death’s chamber giving off a real emptiness feeling to the scene, the school scene emphasises space around the speaker, Rufus. The dialogue is clear overall and the smaller distant ambient effects can be heard, there isn’t much sub channel used but explosions have boldness to them when featured.
I thought one of the best scenes for audio effects was during the séance between Ted’s Mother and friends, the reverb and echo is realistic and slightly spooky. A similar effect used in ‘Poltergeist’ when Carol-Anne is talking through the TV to her family is used when Bill and Ted are communicating here. Added electric effects and music really makes this a decent scene and if it wasn’t for the voices screaming and chanting it sounds like you are in a haunted house theme park ride!! You have to use your imagination though!!
More small ambient and speaker effects are present in the metal tunnels of Hell as Bill and Ted are running from their worst fears. As for the music in this movie, as expected mostly rock type tunes and including the famous electric guitar riff Bill and Ted do with their hands when something is ‘cool’. There is an angelic chorus in the Heaven scene that sounds similar to the score from ‘The Abyss’ mixed in with some ‘Cocoon’ and sounds really good and suits the scene.

Features

The Menu consists of a colourful static screen with the characters on, the phone box and Death. The title is top left and a big fiery design under lays the montage, available options are; play, scene selection, language options and trailer. The language options allow you to choose from a wide array of subtitles and spoken language.

Conclusion

I hadn’t seen this movie in a while but found it quite entertaining this time round, even though it’s a bit dated and tacky now. I was impressed with the visuals of the movie and had forgotten how many were actually in. The character of Bill looks like a young Michael Schumacher I reckon, Keanu Reeves looks well out of place compared to his later roles in ‘The Matrix’, ‘Speed’ or ‘The Watcher’, this presented Keanu with a less serious role to play but does it okay with his floppy haircut! I think The Reaper/Death was my character highlight in this movie, even though he’s a serious character its funny to see other expressions from his dull face, and some of the comical twists he gets in especially the gripping challenges he has Bill and Ted go through!