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My Review of 'El Camino'

'Breaking Bad's follow-up movie. Uh-oh, did they do it right?

By Brian AnonymousPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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El Camino is the movie I guess not a lot of us expected to see. The movie takes place pretty much after the series finale of Breaking Bad. They even have a little recap of what had happened before the movie starts. After all it's been six years since the series finale. That's a long time, and I'm sure not a lot of people remember every little detail of Breaking Bad since then.

Six years is a long time to wait to make a follow-up movie. That doesn't stop a lot of other franchises from making their follow-up movies like Downton Abbey or Sex in the City. It's bound to happen since it's an easy cash grab. The problem with this movie is that the Vince Gilligan (the guy behind Breaking Bad) believes that the events of Breaking Bad are still fresh in our heads.

This movie sort of plays out like a long reunion TV special. There's a ton of cameos and throwbacks to previous episodes in this movie. A ton of the little easter eggs and eye winks in the movie went over my head. I know I should know some of these characters a little better, but I don't remember the old episodes at all. I'm sure this movie may make a lot of people want to re-watch the series so that they can understand all the little nods to the old series.

It's all played out in a pretty creative way. Basically, Jesse Pinkman, still played by Aaron Paul, is running from the law. He's got PTSD because of the horrors he's had to endure under captivity. Albuquerque, New Mexico is still the same city we remembered it before. It's full of underhanded opportunistic people with criminal codes of conduct.

With his PTSD, Jesse has a ton of flashback moments. The movie plays out a little weird not only because of the flashback moments, but because the movie is supposed to be based right after the events of Breaking Bad, but in real life, six years have passed. All of the actors of the original series have been re-hired for this movie, but the six years have not exactly been kind to everyone. It's pretty obvious that Aaron Paul is older and I guess bigger than he used to be. The oddest moments are the flashbacks with Jesse Plemons, who plays Todd in the movie. Jesse Plemons is noticeably bigger and older than he was six years ago. He's almost unrecognizable in certain scenes.

It's a nice gesture from the filmmakers to keep the old cast, and I understand why they did what they did. It just throws the viewer off a lot when it's such a noticeable difference.

Some of the flashback scenes are definitely there to pander to fans of the Breaking Bad series. When you see it, you'll understand what I'm saying. I guess there's a small meaning behind the scenes, but you have a sense that the scenes were added to keep fans happy that they see old favorites. After all this is Jesse's story.

The pacing of the movie was a little on the quick side. It's at times a big change in pace from the TV series. Well it's to be expected since the TV series could take it's time to tell the story, whereas the movie has a two-hour time limit to tell their story all while cramming in tons of fan service. It does still feel like it belongs to the Breaking Bad world, but only the second half of the movie.

I still enjoyed the movie even though everything was kind of a nice, tidy little package. It didn't really wow me, but what do you expect from a movie that's a pseudo sequel to a popular TV series? Fans of the show will be split 50/50 for this movie. They're going to either love it or hate it. I was a fan, but a long time ago. I don't remember all of the details anymore, but I can remember enough to enjoy this movie. It's kind of in the middle of the road for me.

Overall, I would say that fans have to at least watch the movie because it has some interesting elements in there that you'll enjoy even if you end up hating the movie overall. Those that have never seen the Breaking Bad series should probably stay away from this movie at all costs. You won't even know what's going on. I'll have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. I'll have to consider the fact that certain people have never seen the Breaking Bad series. They'll be totally lost and not enjoy this movie at all.

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About the Creator

Brian Anonymous

I have tons of opinions that change constantly. I watch a lot of movies and play video games. There are some articles on my struggles with languages and dance as well.

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