I didn’t
have time to get to this movie right when it first came out, but I saw it over
the weekend and am still mulling it over. Breaking
Bad has a well-deserved place of respect in the TV canon, and so returning
to that world and those characters six years later is a big deal. While I think
El Camino isn’t quite all it could be
and doesn’t fully recapture the feel of the show, that doesn’t stop it from
being damn good (Breaking Bad finale
spoilers and premise spoilers for El
Camino.)
In the
final episode of Breaking Bad, Jesse
finally escapes from the bunker where he’s been imprisoned and forced to cook
meth for a gang of white supremacists, thanks to an unexpected last-minute save
from his erstwhile partner Walt. El
Camino follows straight from that expression of giddy release on Jesse’s
face as he drives away, bringing him back down to earth as he searches
desperately for the means to get out of Alberquerque without running afoul of
the cops who are looking for him. He’s still reeling from the psychological
effects of his capture, but this Jesse is hardened and wired, not about to go
down for anything.
Given the
Breaking Bad finale, I knew that this
movie would by necessity most likely need to go in its own direction, and
that’s not a bad thing. The film pays tribute to its past and everything we
love about the show by peppering it with cameos, some of which are awesome from
start to finish, some of which feel like obligatory fan service but still score
some strong moments. We also see Breaking
Bad’s penchant for visually-evocative camera work and a mixture of
meandering character moments/flavor and taut narrative suspense.
This is
Jesse’s story through and through, and it’s gripping and well-told. The sudden
flashes back to Jesse’s captivity are used effectively throughout, conveying
the horrors of what he experienced without sinking into torture porn. And I
like seeing Jesse’s efforts to get out of town: the ever-evolving plan he
formulates, adjusting to the near-constant complications and roadblocks that are
thrown in his way. Throughout, he’s simultaneously steely-eyed with
determination and barely holding it
together.
The movie’s
biggest fault is that, as well-made as it is, it really doesn’t need to exist
at all. Jesse’s ending on Breaking Bad
is open-ended, but in such a way that it invites the audience to picture what
they’d like (chiefly, Jesse either getting away or getting caught, most likely
depending on your personal feelings about Jesse.) These weren’t big unanswered
questions that fans have spent the last six years clamoring for. And if the
show was going to make a return through a movie, there are more compelling
angles it could’ve focused on than Jesse trying to get out of town. This movie
is both good and extraneous (a lot like Toy
Story 4 in that way, and yes, that is the only comparison I’ll be making
between Breaking Bad and Toy Story.)
The
acting throughout is every bit as good as we expect from Breaking Bad. I won’t spoil all the cameos (although, shoutout to
Skinny Pete and Badger, whose segment is just terrific,) but everyone slips
pretty seamlessly back into these old performances. Yes, everyone’s older and
not everyone looks the same, but that doesn’t take away from the acting. And
just as it’s Jesse’s story, El Camino
is, naturally, Aaron Paul’s movie. Paul is fabulous in the role, taking us
exactly where we need to go and holding our attention from start to finish. The
flashbacks mean he’s playing this new scarred Jesse along with the character at
various points throughout the series, and each one hits the right notes.
Warnings
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