El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix) (1 Viewer)

[ScottH]

I apologize if this should be posted in the Movies section but it just seems to fit more here. Figured we should have a discussion thread for it. Feel free to move it if needed.

Does anyone know the specific time it will drop on Netflix? If it's midnight my time zone (EST) I might actually stay up and watch it.

 

[TravisR]

Does anyone know the specific time it will drop on Netflix? If it's midnight my time zone (EST) I might actually stay up and watch it.

It's 12:20 eastern and it still says that it's coming on Friday so I'm guessing it's midnight Pacific.

 

[ScottH]

It's 12:20 eastern and it still says that it's coming on Friday so I'm guessing it's midnight Pacific.

That does me no good right now...

 

[TravisR]

That does me no good right now...

Same here. I'm legitimately thinking about leaving work early tomorrow.

 

[ScottH]

Same here. I'm legitimately thinking about leaving work early tomorrow.

I saw something that it's 6am London time. I may watch on my lunch break Friday.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

When you guys get to see it, can you tell me in a spoiler free way if:

A) I can still enjoy it without rewatching BB beforehand. Watched every episode of the show when it was on. Remember a great deal of it, probably not every tiny nuance but the broad strokes.

B) I haven’t seen most of Better Call Saul but one day may. Will this require watching that show first, and/or does this significantly spoil that show?

 

[ScottH]

A) I can still enjoy it without rewatching BB beforehand. Watched every episode of the show when it was on. Remember a great deal of it, probably not every tiny nuance but the broad strokes.

I'm in the same boat but plan on watching the movie. And my memory is pretty bad these days.

B) I haven’t seen most of Better Call Saul but one day may. Will this require watching that show first, and/or does this significantly spoil that show?

My guess is I don't think so. Better Call Saul all takes place before Breaking Bad (aside from some very brief flashes to the present/future). I think you'll be find and in the same boat as me.

 

[Jim517]

El Camino starts off where Breaking Bad ends. I've been anxiously awaiting this movie !

 

[TravisR]

When you guys get to see it, can you tell me in a spoiler free way if:

A) I can still enjoy it without rewatching BB beforehand. Watched every episode of the show when it was on. Remember a great deal of it, probably not every tiny nuance but the broad strokes.

Knowing the weirdos that make BB enjoy putting in crazy cameos for the weirdo hardcore fans (like myself), I'm sure there will be some real deep cut references or characters but I doubt not recognizing, say, the realtor that Marie argued with or one of the employees of Los Pollos Hermanos will negatively impact anyone's enjoyment of El Camino.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

What a total waste of viewing time.

Should have been called “El Sneaking Around”

I don’t think this is what fans hoped for

 

[ScottH]

What a total waste of viewing time.

Should have been called “El Sneaking Around”

I don’t think this is what fans hoped for

I couldn't disagree more. I don't know how you could not enjoy this if you were a fan of the show. It essentially played out like an extended episode of Breaking Bad and gave us some closure to the Jesse character.

 

[ScottH]

I will add that I thought the Walt scene seemed a little forced and was completely unnecessary.

 

[TravisR]

It essentially played out like an extended episode of Breaking Bad and gave us some closure to the Jesse character.

Agreed. The one 'problem' with the series finale in my mind was that Jesse didn't have alot to do. That was necessary for the story being told and the amount of time they had but this gave Jesse the spotlight and provided something more definitive and positive for him.

I found it oddly moving when Skinny Pete told Jesse

Spoiler

"You're my hero and shit."

 

[Sam Posten]

I loved it. Unexpected story worked great.

 

[joshEH]

First off, R.I.P., Robert Forster.

Second, I wish Vince had taken The X-Files away from Carter.

Between this and Deadwood, 2019 has been very kind at giving feature-length codas to my favorite shows and succeeding with them. Perhaps the highest praise I can give it is that it feels like it was filmed right after "Felina." And I loved that, despite the runtime, the film shares the show's absolute obsession with process. The five-minute montage of Jesse tearing apart the house was amazing.

Seeing it with a crowd was great. Todd got the most reaction. Jesse Plemons is so good at being a psycho that you don't care about the weight-difference. (Todd looks like he had a couple of kids since the show ended...and ate them.) Between this and The Righteous Gemstones, Scott MacArthur has had a banner year of playing redneck dirtbags. The Badger/Skinny Pete-stuff alone is worth the price of admission. And Aaron Paul is so good as Jesse Ehrmantraut. I mean, that's what this is all really about, right?

Overall, it's the equivalent of DLC for a video game you loved. I can't go on saying if this was necessary, or if there were burning questions left unanswered by Vince Gilligan at the conclusion of the show. But I would be lying if I didn't say that I loved this. It's an epilogue with flashbacks, but it's the same Breaking Bad that you, me, and most of our inner circle fell in love with. Crackerjack writing, entertaining flashbacks (holy shit, I did not think Todd would turn out to be...darkly hilarious!?), and plenty of earned tension.

And the photography was beautiful. Though I kinda hate that "imitation faded" grading-choice when others use it, Vince really embraced a western feel with this one, and it sure looked great on a big screen. It is aesthetically closer to Breaking Bad than Better Call Saul, but it still feels like its own thing. What a saga we'll be left with when Saul wraps up.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I found this more of a curtain call than a viable film feature, but that's okay. It was a last bow for all the cameo characters surrounding Jesse and it was very satisfying to see them appear for one last interaction. It works great as bonus content for Breaking Bad fans, but doesn't work as a stand alone feature narrative. If you didn't get a kick out of all the cameo appearances and Easter eggs, or were not a previous fan, frankly, you would have been bored stiff. It was just a random collection of scenes strung together with Jesse wandering around Albuquerque getting into tight fixes that were completely unnecessary if he had just taken the money and run! And there's no real theme through-line or significant evolution in the character. It ends where it began,

Spoiler

with Jesse driving away (but maybe with an unearned look of peace on his face at the end).

Gilligan was a master at drawing unusual and suspenseful sequences out of the hour-long serial format of television, but doesn't transform those gimmicks into a solid feature format with a strong storyline. There really is no story here other than those random encounters of Jesse trying to get out of Albuquerque. And I get why it had to take place there. No doubt Gilligan feels some intense loyalty to the crews that served him there, he knew the locations well, and that is the world of Breaking Bad, but Jesse could have been long gone from the local manhunt if he had just kept the pedal to the metal of that El Camino.

I loved the film in widescreen as one more visit to the world of Breaking Bad and some of it's characters, but otherwise it left me and my also rabid BB son fan wondering just what this added or why Gilligan felt it needed to be done. It was just like deleted scenes added to the DVD.

 

[Tommy R]

but Jesse could have been long gone from the local manhunt if he had just kept the pedal to the metal of that El Camino.

Spoiler

But wouldn’t he have just been caught faster since it had some sort of tracker on it that the police activated?[

It is a curtain call, but I think in a good way. I found it a wonderful epilogue to Jesse’s story and was not at all disappointed.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I couldn't disagree more. I don't know how you could not enjoy this if you were a fan of the show. It essentially played out like an extended episode of Breaking Bad and gave us some closure to the Jesse character.

Take a phenomenally popular show with two great characters, Walt and Jess.

Essentially take Walt out of the story except for one obligatory scene that seems awfully forced and pointless.

The story now concentrates on one guy, Jess, with flashbacks to characters we absolutely hated.

All Jess does throughout the movie is sneak around in overly long pieces that just went on too long and bogged the story down.

Listen, I know I am in the minority of opinion here. I was happy to read Wayne's review (above) as now I don't feel like the only person who felt this kind of fell flat.

 

[TravisR]

I have to give them credit for using characters that it made sense for Jesse to interact with or think about. I would have liked to see them again but I'm ultimately glad that they didn't use Saul or Skyler or Walt Jr or Marie or Huell or Kuby, etc.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

The bald cap didn't work so they had to do his head with VFX. I was wondering about that since it seemed unlikely he would shave for one scene. Also, it was obvious Aaron Paul had to match his shaved head for the flashbacks to work, which is the only explanation why Jesse would shave ALL his hair off again at the beginning of the film.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/l...ret-role-breaking-bad-movie-el-camino-1246931

https://www.thedailybeast.com/el-ca...ion-with-bryan-crantons-walter-white?ref=home