Jesse Pinkman is on the run after escaping the compound, and he
struggles with his own inner demons as he tries to disappear for good. CRIME/DRAMA
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El Camino: A Breaking
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I had very much been looking forward to this one. I'm a massive Breaking Bad fan, and when Vince Gilligan announced he was releasing a sequel film on Netflix that told the end of Jesse Pinkman's story, I couldn't believe it. It sounded too good to be true, but all the right people were involved, so it had to be a sure thing, right? El Camino isn't a bad movie, but it's not necessarily a good one either. It doesn't really have a point to it at all. While Aaron Paul does a phenomenal job playing a defeated, broken Jesse Pinkman, the film lacks the high stakes and memorable antagonists that made Breaking Bad the cultural phenomena it became.
Jesse Pinkman has escaped Jack Welker's compound, and is now the sole survivor of the massive DEA investigation into the crimes of Walter "Heisenberg" White. I was expecting a manhunt for Jesse, with the DEA wanting revenge for Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez, and the Mexican cartel wanting revenge for the Salamanca family. But this is not the case. Instead, we watch Jesse meander around Albuquerque for two hours looking for a stash of cash so he can pay off Saul Goodman's escape artist (Robert Forster, RIP) and disappear. It's just not as interesting as it should've been. We get just the right amount of fan service, but that's not enough. We wanted a better story with some sort of payoff, but that's not what we get. I wanted to enjoy El Camino more than anybody, but I can't lie to myself and say it's the movie BB fans have been waiting for, because it's not. It's dull and forgettable, and it is not a worthy follow-up to the show's brilliant finale. I'm sure some fans will rave about this film, but others will find themselves disappointed by just how safe Gilligan plays it. What a letdown. |