This post is dedicated to actor Robert Forster who played Ed the vacuum repairman. He tragically died on the day El Camino and this review was released.
Here is 2019’s most unnecessary movie. Well I guess that’s debatable, but still I don’t think this movie needed to exist.
Breaking Bad is one of the best TV shows I have ever seen and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t seen it. It had all the stuff you look for in a great TV show: A fantastic story, great characters, full of awesome moments, it’s very quotable, there are no dull episodes and, most importantly, the series finale doesn’t suck! I felt the ending was the best sendoff for the characters that we watched for 5 seasons and I did not need to know what happened afterwards.
But obviously nowadays things aren’t allowed to remain ambiguous. We need to know exactly what happened after the happy ending. What are Jasmine and Aladdin up to after getting married? How is grownup Harry Potter going at his boring wizard accounting job? What does John Rambo do in the geriatric ward? Where did Jesse Pinkman go after leaving the life of crime? Movie studios listen very closely to you people for inspiration and this is why we get so many reboots and remakes nowadays.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie takes place immediately after the series finale and it answers the big question fans have been dying to know since the show ended. Where did Jesse Pinkman go and I’m going to tell you right now. Don’t worry I won’t spoil the movie.
Watch the very first scene and after that shut the movie off and go to bed because you’ve got your answer.
In all seriousness, after watching the first scene I knew exactly what was going to happen and it’s over two hours of waiting for them to get to the oh so obvious ending. Not that it’s a tedious wait, it’s quite enjoyable. Some cast members from the show come back and there are some tense moments of Jesse sneaking around hiding from police. It’s a good watch, but again you already know what’s going to happen so, no matter what obstacles Jesse is faced with, I never had to fear for his life, which was something I never felt in the TV show.
To be clear, it’s not a bad movie. Aaron Paul is absolutely brilliant, along with the rest of the cast. The camera work feels like you’re watching an episode of the show. Despite feeling like a cash-grab I think Vince Gilligan still cares about making a good film that fans will enjoy, and fans are the ones who will get the biggest kick out of this.
My only serious negatives are that it’s a bit slow and the flashbacks. (Plus a sequence in the end that felt too absurd for this series.) The flashbacks I wasn’t overly into. I guess it’s cool to see some characters I like come back, but it was kind of distracting how much they have aged since the show ended. It’s an It: Chapter 2 situation where the flashbacks go back to events that we never saw happen on the show, but everyone looks like they have aged 10 years. Especially Todd – he really let himself go before the series finale. Again the flashbacks aren’t bad, but some are a bit more redundant and probably should have been cut.
El Camino is whatever. A well made movie littered with great performances, but is it really a movie I need to watch again? Hell no! Despite it being a solid movie I can’t stop thinking that it was specifically made to cash-in. You’re probably thinking ‘What were you expecting?’ and I would say ‘I was expecting more!’. The stuff in this movie is good but, to be honest, El Camino should have been a side story for a completely different movie which now it seems they are saving for the sequel. The people behind Breaking Bad clearly know this and it’s such a slimy move to keep teasing fans for what they really want. This can be handled better while still pleasing the fans. My case being Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus. It’s a great movie for fans, great for newcomers and just a really fun movie. It is a better continuation of the show than El Camino could ever hope to be.
I’m done ranting. So El whatever gets a 6/10. Fans of the show might want to check it out. If you are not familiar with Breaking Bad check out the TV show instead. I guarantee you’ll have a great time. If you made it to this point I applaud you for reading my quick review on El Camino and I have been The Blog Complainer, signing out.
