I predict the film’s esteem will only rise in coming years, once it’s further removed from preconceived notions and expectations that immediately preceded it. That it succeeds at all without engaging in any annoying story retconning or cheap fan service (the closest it comes is allowing Jesse one utterance of “Bitch!”, although even that is entirely justified by the context) is a further testament to its quality. While it’s far too intense a thriller to be considered a classic hangout movie, it nonetheless operates on a similar level. While El Camino has received strong reviews, one talking point that keeps popping up is the notion that since it doesn’t throw any big twists our way, or even really expand on what we probably surmised at the end of the original series re Jesse’s fate, the film is somehow unnecessary.Įven without diving into a larger discussion about the necessity of any individual film, such criticism still reads as bogus: El Camino gives us the opportunity to re-enter a world we’ve come to love and to catch up with characters we’ve missed. Meanwhile, some Breaking Bad fans might be disappointed by El Camino’s relatively low-key stakes, at least compared to the epic scale of Breaking Bad’s latter seasons, though they are probably in the minority: all of the major set pieces retain the tight, intelligent plotting and nigh-unbearable tension we’ve come to expect from writer-director Vince Gilligan, while the unbroken focus on Jesse provides an emotional catharsis that greatly adds to the larger Breaking Bad canon. This isn’t necessarily negative – if these had been episodes of the series they’d rank among the very best – but it does give the film a slightly off-kilter rhythm. This structure, combined with numerous lengthy flashbacks (all of which, it should be noted, are new scenes), makes El Camino feel less like a standalone film than three slightly truncated episodes of Breaking Bad stacked back-to-back.
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