Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

 

How on Earth do you follow up a silly yet enjoyable film that made no sense whatsoever but still managed to put a smile on faces all around?

Most people would roughly do the same thing again. That is why this one is actually good, because it does something different with the exact same characters. 

After having saved the future by completing a decent history report in the last one, now terrible things are afoot when in the future, a person called De Nomolos sends evil robot versions of Bill and Ted back to kill our intrepid heroes and thus change the future in a way he feels fitting. You might think these robots would be foiled.

They're not. Heck, they actually succeed in killing Bill & Ted. And it is here that their adventure starts. After they evade Death, they try to possess some people in order to make their plight known, but during a seance they are sent to Hell itself. Satan then drops them in a maze comprised of their personal hells in a pretty great part that tries new stuff with visuals and angles. Trust me, it feels disjointed and looks the part of a hell you really don't want to be a part of. They are picked up by Death and without further options, they decide to play against him to try and complete their journey back. They do and are taken to the afterlife where they are paired up with a pair of alien scientists, who are the only ones capable of building good robot versions in order to defeat the evil ones at the showdown: the Battle of the Bands, where - according to lore - they will start to spread their message that will change the world for the better forever. 

Actually, I prefer this one to the first one. Sure, they're both silly as a bag of cats, but here they try new stuff and it feels funnier, instead of just relying on Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves. Heck, William Sadler is hilarious as Death (and clearly modelled after the version from 'The Seventh Seal'). Yes, the antagonist is fairly weak and the conclusion is a little convoluted, but you can't win them all. 

What this film especially has going for it, is the abundance of new and bizarre visuals that work really well. As mentioned, the part in Hell is great, but the castle of Death and Heaven are also very distinct and try to do something different from the first one, which deserves a lot more credit than it gets. 

But at the end of the day, it all boils down on how high your tolerance for a plethora of 'Dude!', 'Bogus!', 'Excellent!' or 'Heinous!' is. If you can stomach all this silliness, then this is one for you. If however, you care not for something of this ilk, best avoid it at all costs.