"El Camino" Movie Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

I still vividly remember the first time I finished watching "Breaking Bad". I was absolutely in speechless awe of all that I had seen. It was perhaps the most satisfying ending to any TV show I had seen. The character arcs were all perfectly realized; it felt like Walter White and Jesse Pinkman ended up exactly where they should be. Of course, I wasn't the only person to think this, as BB is now regarded as one of the best shows of all time, oftentimes put alongside "The Sopranos" and "The Wire". I certainly think it's the best show of the 2000s, and for me, it's my favorite show of all time. There was hardly ever a bad episode (although it could be debated there were some filler moments in Season 1 and the start of Season 2). Show creator Vince Gilligan worried me a little bit when he announced the prequel series "Better Call Saul". After all, we're living in a time where it feels like series like these are more cash grabs than anything. But I was proven wrong, as BCS has become one of my favorite shows of the 2010s. So, I had all the faith in the world that Vince would do right by "Breaking Bad" enthusiasts with the film "El Camino". Does he? Well, while "El Camino" doesn't quite compare to the series it's following, it still offers a satisfying ending. Thankfully, it doesn't remotely ruin BB's legacy either. It's not perfect, but it's still really good. Be warned, there will be SPOILERS for both the show and movie in this review, so proceed with caution if you haven't seen either of them.

As most of you who were interested in seeing this movie probably know, "El Camino" follows Jesse Pinkman directly after he escapes a group of white supremacists who made him cook Walter White's famous blue meth. Walter White is dead, and as a parting gift to Jesse, he gave him a car to drive away in. Now Jesse is on the run, both from the police and the emotional trauma of all he's gone through. He hopes to get a fresh start, and maybe, just maybe, finally discover happiness. Let's talk about all that works in this movie, because there is a lot. I think the best thing about this film, far and away, is Aaron Paul's absolutely stellar performance. The last episode of "Breaking Bad", "Felina", showed Bryan Cranston in his best form, and provided a fitting farewell for Walter. This movie serves as a farewell to Jesse Pinkman, who didn't get quite as big of a focus in the final season of the show. Paul really immerses himself into this character, having him go through the gamut of emotions. I could really feel Jesse's deep trauma throughout the film; it affected pretty much all of his actions throughout. There's never a moment where Paul is not believable in the film; after all these years he is still able to embody the personality of Jesse to a pretty much pitch perfect degree. I also think that the first act of this movie especially is really strong. The movie does a good job at establishing its theme with an effectively brief flashback between Jesse and Mike, where Mike asks Jesse what he might do when the stuff with Walter is finally over with. The scene is bittersweet since you know where both characters are going to end up, and it really packs an emotional gut punch right away. The flashback scene does an awesome quick cut to Jesse in the present riding away from the place where he was imprisoned. Director Vince Gilligan often does a great job in this film of transitioning between flashbacks and present day scenes. Sometimes the transitions are so seamless, it took me a minute to realize we were in the present or going back to the past. This makes the flashbacks, typically, feel a part of the movie's identity rather than just nostalgic pandering (there are a couple flashbacks that don't quite work, more on those later). In the first act of the film, we also get to see Jesse interacting with both Skinny Pete and Badger. I honestly wish more time in the film had been spent with these two characters, as they prove to provide some much needed comic levity to the movie. I also thought Gilligan was going to develop Skinny Pete a little more, but unfortunately the character doesn't appear again when Jesse inevitably leaves them. At the same time, though, this movie is about Jesse, so I understand why Vince doesn't have him spend too much time with anyone else.

There are several other standout things about this film to talk about. The other highlight performance of the film was not one I was expecting: Robert Forster, as the "vacuum salesman" Ed. Of course, to Jesse he's known as the guy who can give Jesse a whole new identity and fresh start. Ed was in "Breaking Bad" for a very short amount of time, so we didn't get to know him very well. I feel like he got a bit more development here, making for an intriguing character. Once again, I do wish we'd gotten to see some more of him, but for the time he was in this movie, he was great. It's saddening to know that Robert Forster passed away almost a week after the film was released. He gave quite a great performance for us to remember him by. Jesse Plemons was also superb in this film as Todd, probably the character with the second most screen time in the film. Plemons does great at showing us even more of this character's empty psychopathy that makes him one of the most haunting characters I've ever seen on television. A lot of people were complaining that they were taken out of the flashback scenes with Todd due to Plemons gaining weight. That fact doesn't really take me out of the scene, and feels more like nitpicking to me. Plemons's acting is good enough for me to ignore those things, and I think it's a little disingenuous to critique a film for something like weight gain. The other major highlight of the film is the distinct camera work it has. This movie very much has a similar style to "Breaking Bad", and there are a lot of cool visual callbacks to it. Perhaps my favorite scene in the movie was a montage sequence, which really brought back memories of all the iconic montage sequences in the original show. There are a lot of memorable shots in this film, such as one where Jesse is pointing a gun at a cop, or the beautiful shots of Alaska that appear at the end of the movie.

There are a couple of critiques I have for this film. Probably the most primary is that some of the flashback sequences feel a little bit too long. This is especially true of the ones with Todd. Even though I love the performances from Paul and Plemons in these sequences, ultimately they start to feel like padding at a certain point. The sequences do have a purpose, but I think they could've gotten to the point a bit quicker than they did. I expected there to be a flashback with Walter and Jesse, and there was. While this scene did initially bring a smile to my face, something felt a little bit off about it. It just didn't feel like Walt and Jesse had quite the same relationship with one another in this scene that they did in the original show. It also seemed that Bryan Cranston wasn't super invested in the scene to me. This was the one time in the movie where Aaron Paul's acting felt a little off as well. The best flashbacks were the ones that appeared at both the beginning and the end of the movie: the former being with Mike, and the latter being with Jane. The reason both of these worked is they were brief and to the point. They were able to reinforce the themes of the movie in a concise way. Another sort of problem with the movie is that most of the new characters here are not very compelling at all. Neil is the the main antagonist of the film, and ultimately, there's not a whole lot to him. I understand why he is an enemy to Jesse. However, he didn't really do much directly to Jesse in the same way that Todd, or even Walter, did. He is a pretty generic villain, and you can predict pretty easily what's gonna happen to him. His other villain cronies aren't very interesting, either. There's also this scene that serves as the climax of the movie, where Jesse and Neil have a literal Wild West gun-off. While this scene put a smile on my face, I do have to admit it was over the top, especially considering the pretty grounded tone the rest of this film had. It honestly felt like the scene belonged in a different movie, because there's nothing else in the film quite like it.

As a whole, I really enjoyed "El Camino". I am a passionate "Breaking Bad" fan, and for anyone else who feels the same as me about the show, this movie is worth a watch. The film has several big things going for it: the masterful performance by Aaron Paul, Vince Gilligan's distinct directorial style, and most of all, the legacy of BB is not messed up. The movie plays it safe, and I think that's only a good thing in this case. It was easy for me to get over the critiques I had of this film, simply because it was a good watch. Is it as good as the TV show it's following? No, but I think that would be incredibly tough to do in even the best of scenarios. "El Camino" serves as a very well-done, and often poignant, coda to a series that is loved by many. I can easily recommend it; it's definitely one of Netflix's better original movies!