El Camino Continues Breaking Bad’s Story, but not its Brilliance
Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad
by AMC
While Breaking Bad ended 6 years ago, Netflix has just released movie that follows what happened after it all. I should warn you all that if you are reading this and have not yet seen Breaking Bad or El Camino there are MAJOR SPOILERS, so make sure you binge the series so you can come back later and read this review.
Breaking Bad was debatably one of the greatest television shows of all time. Getting a 9.5/10 on IMDb and a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, it ranks as one of the most successful shows in recent history. With the show getting nominated for 58 Emmys and winning 16 of them, it was adored by millions of people that tuned in each week to see the devolution of Walter White, chemistry teacher turned drug lord.
In case you may have forgotten, Breaking Bad went out with a bang in their final few episodes. I’ll give you a quick summary of the plot to catch you up to speed and tell you what you need to know speed before seeing El Camino. The series finale ends as Walt finds Jeese, who is being held prisoner too cook meth for by a man named Uncle Jack and his gang of Nazi’s. The last scene of the series shows Jesse driving away in an El Camino hysterically laughing/crying, while Walt finally dies in the only place he feels at home, a meth lab.
El Camino starts off right where Breaking Bad ended off showing again Jesse escaping from his kidnappers. The movie then follows the story of Jesse trying to start fresh while running from the cops attempting to leave his life of crime. The story switches between present and past events to when Jesse was held captive as he is still struggling with PTSD of getting constantly tortured and held in a cage by Uncle Jack and his criminals.
Jesse still scared of his past experiences
by NBC News
Throughout the movie we see cameos of beloved characters that stared in Breaking Bad such as Skinny Pete, Badger, Todd, Jane, and even Walt. The beginning of the story shows Jesse meeting with past friends, Skinny Pete and Badger, looking for help after he had just escaped. There is a man that is talked about in Breaking Bad who is able to completely change someone’s identity giving them the opportunity to basically start a new life as a completely different person. Jesse started his journey searching for this man. However, the mysterious man’s services come at a heavy fee. Within the movie, there are many flashbacks to Jesse’s life before he was taken as it shows conversations with Walt and Jane explaining that all he wants to do is start fresh. Jesse and his friends create a plan for Jesse to collect the money that is needed, and the plot shows the struggle of Jesse taking the money from one of the members of the Nazis, Todd. After Jesse collected the money, killing a few people in the process, he is able to start a new life in Alaska as a new man.
Todd making his prisoner (Jesse) work for him
by Metro
The movie itself was nothing to compare to the series. As Breaking Bad was nearly perfect, I believe it would have been extremely hard to create a movie that would live up to the same expectations. With Vince Gilligan directing both the movie and the series, he had the opportunity to continue the incredible story he created in the first place. Although I do not believe the movie was bad, I just believed that it had much more potential. With it getting a high score with a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes yet a somewhat average score with 7.5/10 on IMDb there are many mixed feelings about the film.
While watching the movie, I kept asking myself the same question, was this movie necessary? Although it gave us closure as to what happened to one of our favorite characters Jesse, I personally would have been completely fine with the series ending six years ago with the show.
The movie itself is saved by the performance of Aaron Paul, due to the fact the plot of the story wasn’t much. Don’t get me wrong, the film wasn’t bad in any way and I don’t want you to think I didn’t enjoy it, however with all that was possible in the story I believe the actual plot could have been more intriguing. I believe that if the movie showed the view from the Whites perspective, and or focusing on Jesse going to college in Alaska such as Walt suggested, it could have been an exceptional overall film. It was great to see Jesse finally shine own his own as he was in the background and overshadowed by Walter White the entire Breaking Bad series. However, I believe it could have been done in a stronger way.
Overall the movie was extremely popular its first weekend and many Breaking Bad fans have been excited to see it ever since it was announced. I believe the movie was a decent film, yet if you are trying to create a successor to Breaking Bad it would be nearly impossible to make it as much of a success.