El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Directed by: Vince Gilligan
Runtime: 122 minutes
While there have been a lot of TV series film spinoffs or finalisations over the years (see Deadwood: The Movie). However, there haven’t been many that have faced the hype that El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie received. It can only be expected that the finalisation of a show as praised as Breaking Bad would receive the level of attention it did, but with that attention comes expectation. Will the film somehow sour the experience of the series, or, will it elevate the ending to a new level? These are fair questions. While I’m not one of the super fans that would scream from the top of Everest how excellent Breaking Bad was, I was there for the series. I am a fan, maybe just not as big as others.
El Camino picks up right from the final episode of Breaking Bad, following on from Jesse Pinkman’s (Aaron Paul) escape. Through El Camino, we follow Jesse as he comes into contact with old friends and enemies while on the run from the law. Vince Gilligan has opted here to keep the plot straight-forward and simple, eliminating the need to overthink what is going to happen next and providing the audience with more time to dwell on our main character as we watch him desperately struggle to move forward, while facing PTSD style flashbacks of the horrors he endured during his time being held captive. You could say that Aaron Paul slides back into the role of Jesse with ease, but that would do a disservice to Paul’s performance. Here, Jesse is almost an entirely different character, completely broken and a shell of his former self. After five seasons of evolving this character, Paul takes the final plunge and brings him to the edge of his breaking point, and it is sold perfectly. Every other performance is on par with what the audience came to previously expect from Breaking Bad. Both Matt Jones and Charles Baker reprise their roles as Badger and Skinny Pete and stand out in what is quite a touching sequence; it would also be remiss of me not to mention the solid as ever performance from the late Robert Forster as Ed.
While the performances were terrific throughout El Camino. I do have a small issue with the film, in that overall, it doesn’t really feel like a film. El Camino is more akin to a 122-minute episode of Breaking Bad. I felt the need to stop halfway through, brew myself some coffee and have a ten-minute break before jumping back in. Is this really a problem though? No, not really, especially since it has been created with Netflix in mind. The other area that fostered this feeling for me was in the direction. While the film does have some absolutely standout shots, most of the film is shot with safe and simple framing akin to your average TV episode. Just to be a little nitpicky, there also happens to be a few instances where shots of city traffic are used to show the passage of time which could be a little disorienting, evoking flashbacks to screaming ‘Where are we?!’ during screenings of The Room. These transitions feel akin to the post-commercial break re-establishing shots used in a lot of sitcoms, something I could do without in a film like this. These are quite minor issues, but they only serve to add to the TV-episode feeling I mentioned.
So does the film stack up? Is it a worthy ending to Breaking Bad? My answer is yes. Aaron Paul puts in a stellar performance as Jesse and really sells the pain his character is going through, and the supporting cast put in excellent performances beside him as well. The direction at times is safe but does surprise with a few memorable shots scattered through the film. While El Camino doesn’t change the ending of the series narratively, it does change it emotionally, managing to justify its existence while keeping the fidelity of the original finale intact.
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