El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)

‘El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie’ brings Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) back onto the screens, six years after the final episode of ‘Breaking Bad’. As fans will remember, the series ended with an insane assasination and rescue plot, freeing Jesse and indicating the capture, or even death, of Walter White. Jesse is last seen driving chaotically into the distance, screaming and crying inside a ‘78 Chevrolet El Camino. Despite my excitement to reunite with one of television’s most loved characters, I was nervous: sequels don’t tend to go well. Too often they try too hard to tie up loose ends that were better open-ended, or force nostalgia through explicitly obvious memories and callbacks. ‘El Camino’, though, is a triumph.

Jesse’s solo film is important. In ‘Breaking Bad’, Walter White calls the shots. Jesse is a reactive character who finds himself acting on the will of others, whether through fear, love or duty. Finally, we get to see him in full autonomy. There’s a reason that Paul won three Emmys for his role as Jesse – his performance is powerfully beautiful. He plays a difficult character: a troubled, manipulative drug-dealer turned manufacturer who brings destruction to every relationship he touches, and yet he is so utterly loved by every viewer. His two-hour journey is as complicated as his character; Jesse must simultaneously find the means to escape while figuring out where he actually wants to, and can, go. ‘El Camino’ starts with a rousing recap of the series, which is much appreciated after a six year hiatus. Even this short recap is beautifully done; the montage is poignant but not dramatic for drama’s sake. Very quickly, the audience is up to date and back on the edge of our seats, as if the last six years of absence never happened.

Writer and director Vince Gilligan is known for creating intricately complex plots, loaded with easter eggs and foreshadowing, and he is a master at presenting such complexities within easy to follow and beautifully simple episodes. We see this a lot in ‘Breaking Bad’: the recurring preview shots that make no sense until the end of the series, the call-backs to characters from three seasons ago, tiny clues that make sense of huge plotlines; they are all carefully buried in expertly crafted plots. ‘El Camino’ is true to Gilligan’s style, it is poetic, casually nostalgic, and funny as hell. The nods to former relationships are really well done, especially the brief appearance of Walter White. Gilligan manages the return of characters like Badger and Skinny Pete with brevity and humour, allowing a high-impact reunion without requiring too much time. The majority of the two-hour feature is Jesse alone, as it should be. The events of ‘Breaking Bad’ have brought us here, to Jesse’s ultimate loneliness and brokenness, and Paul commands the screen enough to portray this fragility without asking for sympathy.

‘El Camino’ is what a sequel should be. It retains the feel of ‘Breaking Bad’ and ties in with former plotlines so effortlessly that it could easily have been written alongside the series six years ago. It is understated, emotional, and natural. The final shot is perfect: we are back where we began, essentially, but with a different outlook. Jesse is still alone, still lost, and still unsure where he is going, but this time he is there through his own actions. There is no happy ever after, or any gruesome forced closure. Once again, it is up to us to decide what happens to Jesse, but we can rest assured that this time, he’s led us there himself.