The Crime Thriller On Netflix That Ended A Legacy
The AMC series Breaking Bad is rightfully celebrated among audiences as one of the best (if not the best) television shows ever created. The world of that show continued with the prequel-turned-sequel series Better Call Saul, but even that excellent show couldn’t scratch the itch for fans who were hoping to learn more about what Jesse Pinkman was doing after the credits rolled. To fans who want to see how the legacy of this character and other franchise loose ends play out, it’s important to go stream El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie on Netflix today.
In case you’re worried that the movie is a cheap cash grab, we’ve got some good news: series creator Vince Gilligan was already thinking about creating this movie when he was writing the Breaking Bad finale. He felt like Jesse Pinkman’s character had one last story to tell, and he convinced fan-favorite actor Aaron Paul to reprise his role as the redeemed drug dealer. And this is more than just a great Jesse story: this is a sequel to Breaking Bad that also serves as the final epilogue to that morally murky series.
El Camino, starring Aaron Paul at his very best, is now streaming on Netflix.
The title of El Camino refers to the vehicle that fans last saw Jesse Pinkman driving in the Breaking Bad series finale. He stole the vehicle from Brotherhood member Todd Alquist, and our last shot of him in that final episode was his triumphant escape from the compound where he was held prisoner and forced to help the violent gang make meth. At the beginning of El Camino, we see Jesse bring that car back to Albuquerque and link back up with some of his old friends, and he must constantly outrace trouble in his quest to quietly disappear when the entire state is out looking for him.
El Camino is primarily told in the present day (making the film a sequel to Breaking Bad), but it is also filled with several prequel scenes set in various periods during the Breaking Bad storyline. This allows for the return of Bryan Cranston as Walter White (just in case you thought a little thing like dying in the finale would keep him out of the movie). These flashbacks also allow the return of Krysten Ritter’s Jane Margolis, and it’s wild to remember her time on Breaking Bad before the world knew her as disgruntled Marvel detective Jessica Jones.
While those two cameos are arguably the biggest ones, El Camino is full of cameo appearances from the most colorful characters in the franchise.
While those two cameos are arguably the biggest ones, El Camino is full of cameo appearances from the most colorful characters in the franchise. Jesse Plemons is back to play wall-eyed psychopath and generally hatable character Todd, and Jonathan Banks comes back to play cranky cop turned Gus Fring lieutenant Mike Ehrmantraut. Hell, Charles Baker, and Matt L. Jones return to play Jesse’s dimwitted friends Skinny Pete and Badger, and it feels good to hang out with this quirky cast one last time.
The movie ended up being particularly important for Vince Gilligan. He was already considered a legendary TV director thanks to both The X-Files and Breaking Bad, and he had worked on films in the past, but this was the first movie for which Gilligan would serve as director and producer. This let him indulge in his inner film nerd (which is never far from the surface), and he made the film a lowkey love letter to the kinds of Western films that Sergio Leone once used to electrify Hollywood.
Before winning audiences over with the El Camino film, Gilligan had to win over Aaron Paul. The young actor and his Jesse Pinkman character are at the forefront of the film, and it was important to get buy-in from Paul before he reprised his iconic character. Fortunately, Paul loved Gilligan’s script (one which initially left him speechless), and from there, Gilligan reached a distribution deal with Netflix to release the film on streaming and even a limited theatrical run.
Ultimately, El Camino isn’t exactly required watching for Breaking Bad fans, but it’s a fun, chill hang with some of our favorite characters, and it has cinematography that rivals even the prettiest episodes of the franchise.
We don’t know the budget of El Camino, and the film made less than $40,000 in its theatrical run. Fortunately, it proved to be a major hit on streaming: on Rotten Tomatoes, it has an impressive 92 percent from critics. The consensus is that it is a satisfying and fitting epilogue for Breaking Bad and gives us the best Aaron Paul performance of the actor’s life.
Ultimately, El Camino isn’t exactly required watching for Breaking Bad fans, but it’s a fun, chill hang with some of our favorite characters, and it has cinematography that rivals even the prettiest episodes of the franchise. Whether you binge-watch the show each month or just caught a few reruns here and there, it’s awesome getting additional insight into the minds and motivations of the most complex characters in television history. Stream it on Hulu today to relive the franchise so addictive that it might as well be a big bag of hypnotically-blue meth.
