El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

There's nothing about El Camino that is essential; while it won't tarnish your memories of the original series, it won't reframe or enhance them, either. It's a nice ride with some old friends. Sometimes, that's just enough.

For fans of the show who know these characters, that's a welcome conclusion for a story we didn't even know we missed until Vince Gilligan showed it to us.

It's really well shot, really well acted, and it's constantly engaging.

In the end, though, we are left with little more than a movie that follows a renegade hero trying to flee from the authorities chasing him down while the narrative flashes back to the memories he can't outpace.

The film mixes a self-help message with moments of hard, cruel detail.

El Camino will only work for fans who can recall who all these familiar faces are - the nostalgic pull and possibility for reconnection are sometimes recapped in dialogue, most of it avoiding the ludicrously expository, but outsiders will be baffled.

Fans of Breaking Bad will be delighted with El Camino, which not only adds to the world of the show – but as a love letter to Jesse Pinkman, even manages to improve upon an ending many thought couldn’t be beaten.



A fun ride. A showcase for Aaron Paul.

While El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie is moderately enjoyable escapism, it’s ultimately an indulgence that’s an extension of its series finale and may only offer a sense of closure for the creators involved rather than its fans.

This is less a traditional road movie than the tale of one man's frustrated attempt to hit the road, all helped enormously by the enigmatic intensity of Paul's performance.