"El Camino" directly picks off where we left off by the end of "Felina", the series finale of "Breaking Bad". Walter White died after exacting revenge upon the Welkers, saying goodbye to his wife, and making arrangements
for the better of his son. Jesse Pinkman drove off in an El Camino to an uncertain future, and we as the viewers can only hope that he drives off to a fresh start. But a potential journey to freedom will not be as easy, and is the center story in "El Camino". What "Felina" was to Walter White's story, "El Camino" is the Jesse Pinkman's counterpart.
The film is less explosive than "Felina" and is slower-paced and calmer, giving us a deeper look into Jesse Pinkman, his motivations, and learning what he has gone through. I think this is perfectly fine because Jesse has always been a more sympathetic character as compared to Walter White. "Breaking Bad" had chronicled the downfall of Walter White as his inner desires to be recognized for his genius-intellect and longing to be in a position of power gradually comes to full effect ever since he adopted the alias Heisenberg. Jesse Pinkman is the exact contrast, and while he had been in the drug business before White, he feels out of place and learns that he's just not fit to be in the harsh and cruel reality, and by the end of the series, he just wants to get out of it. Yet, he gets pulled back in over and over again, through Walter's manipulation, and suffers heaps of hardships, suffers lots of loss, and continually reaches a new low in his life. As a viewer, you can't help but hope that he finally gets his new start.
I am a huge fan of "Breaking Bad", and have also watched "Better Call Saul", thus I have a pretty good understanding of who the people are in the "Breaking Bad" universe. While a standalone movie, "El Camino" would not be very effective for the uninitiated because some of the moments in the movie do have a huge impact, but because they cite particular references to the original series. Therefore, any fan of the series will find this movie hugely satisfying, given their familiarity with the material. But casual viewers won't find this movie to make much sense because it doesn't feel very coherent without its ties to the original series. It's not a particularly new story arc for Jesse Pinkman, it's an epilogue to his story.
Lastly, Aaron Paul delivers a powerful performance as Jesse Pinkman, as always, as what you'd expect for a man who won 3 Emmy awards for this role. He does an amazing job of portraying the pain, the snarkiness, the desperation, and loneliness of a young man who finds himself a victim of a cruel world he got himself into. Besides Paul, the rest of the cast did an amazing job, and for the actors who reprised their roles from the movie, it was such a delight to see them all back, which I'm sure fans will appreciate. One actor's physical presence felt a bit noticeably different (6 years is a long time) but never mind that because "El Camino" is just amazing.
So long, Jesse Pinkman.
The film is less explosive than "Felina" and is slower-paced and calmer, giving us a deeper look into Jesse Pinkman, his motivations, and learning what he has gone through. I think this is perfectly fine because Jesse has always been a more sympathetic character as compared to Walter White. "Breaking Bad" had chronicled the downfall of Walter White as his inner desires to be recognized for his genius-intellect and longing to be in a position of power gradually comes to full effect ever since he adopted the alias Heisenberg. Jesse Pinkman is the exact contrast, and while he had been in the drug business before White, he feels out of place and learns that he's just not fit to be in the harsh and cruel reality, and by the end of the series, he just wants to get out of it. Yet, he gets pulled back in over and over again, through Walter's manipulation, and suffers heaps of hardships, suffers lots of loss, and continually reaches a new low in his life. As a viewer, you can't help but hope that he finally gets his new start.
I am a huge fan of "Breaking Bad", and have also watched "Better Call Saul", thus I have a pretty good understanding of who the people are in the "Breaking Bad" universe. While a standalone movie, "El Camino" would not be very effective for the uninitiated because some of the moments in the movie do have a huge impact, but because they cite particular references to the original series. Therefore, any fan of the series will find this movie hugely satisfying, given their familiarity with the material. But casual viewers won't find this movie to make much sense because it doesn't feel very coherent without its ties to the original series. It's not a particularly new story arc for Jesse Pinkman, it's an epilogue to his story.
Lastly, Aaron Paul delivers a powerful performance as Jesse Pinkman, as always, as what you'd expect for a man who won 3 Emmy awards for this role. He does an amazing job of portraying the pain, the snarkiness, the desperation, and loneliness of a young man who finds himself a victim of a cruel world he got himself into. Besides Paul, the rest of the cast did an amazing job, and for the actors who reprised their roles from the movie, it was such a delight to see them all back, which I'm sure fans will appreciate. One actor's physical presence felt a bit noticeably different (6 years is a long time) but never mind that because "El Camino" is just amazing.
So long, Jesse Pinkman.