El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie hits Netflix as an attempt to reunite the fans of the most outstanding TV show in history. And it doesn’t surpass the outcome that Breaking Bad, the series, did. Sure, the attraction over the film is a major factor for a massive crowd-puller. But El Camino fails to revive the experience that Breaking Bad Offered at which, the spin-off, Better Call Saul is doing exceptional.
Vince Gilligan, the Writer and the Director of the series and the movie, is known for his love towards his creation. Breaking Bad, the brainchild of Vince, took us by storm. It is one of the most entertaining, the most interesting show that has set a benchmark. Evidently, the making of BB has displayed Vince’s excitement and love towards film-making. The plot, the characters, the events – they are no normal and no ordinary. The characters often find themselves in perplexing situations and they walk further into more troublesome ones. Walter White, the iconic character of the series, breaks bad. He enthralls with his obsession over always holding a upper hand in tricky situations. The series were original and inventive. The dialogues and the vivid imagery send the chills down the spine and leave with lasting impressions.
El Camino starts where the finale of Breaking Bad “Felina” episode left off. It deals with the daring venture that Jesse Pinkman embarks after he glances over Walter at his last moment. The first shot of Jesse in Felina is, he is chained to an iron rod which is in the ceiling of the lab. The last shot, he escapes from his captivators and breaks free the iron gate. He drives off to pitch black road, which resembles his future. The most wanted man of Albuquerque is on the run but the problems he faces fails to bind us to the seats.
We see a traumatized Jesse Pinkman just after escaping his captivators. He takes his time to come out off the pain that he had been inflicted on. We see a handful of characters from the series who reprise their roles in El Camino. Skinny Pete, Badger dutifully do their job as friends. Joe, the car crusher, Mike Ehrmantraut, Jane Margolis are few among the many characters who take on their roles once agian. Look out for a scene of the duo Walter-Jesse from the old days. I surely miss Saul Goodman. I would have loved to see him fidget over the nerve wracking situations.
Most parts of El Camino revolve around the beady-eyed Todd and Jesse before his escape. The recap of the film seems more intense than the film itself. El Camino deceives to be elevating the tension but immediately drops it. The film works only in bits and not on the whole. While it is a little disappointing as a movie, it definitely brings back the memories from the past. It toys with us to place the scenes in sequence while we are nostalgic about the course. As Vince, the director, said in the film’s premier, it doesn’t matter whether the movie works or not, it is just about having a closure to Jesse’s Venture.
