El Camino (2019)

A more educational topic for the current global context would've probably been an appropriate episode of TWD (very useful generally for analyzing the group psychology during crisis, even though it's just fiction). On the other hand maybe not = let's not add more panic. Anyway, it's another week when I don't have a proper subject, but I told myself maybe find something to keep the usual blog frequency + watching movies fits with solitary indoor activities, which doesn't hurt promoting these days. So I got to "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie" to provide the complete title - which I've recently watched.

To start with, it doesn't make much sense to watch the movie if you didn't watch the series (++more solitary indoor activity :P). Ergo, if you didn't see "Breaking Bad", also what follows it won't make much sense. As in "Deadwood"'s case, I've seen the series at 6-7 years after ending (long live project-free periods!). In different words is quite fresh, thing that might count on how much you'll like the movie. For me it was like a sort of epilogue for the finale episode - quick recap: Walter White guns down pretty much everybody who's "bad", including himself. Except Jesse Pinkman, his oldest associate, who we could say redeemed himself after a year of solitary confinement and slavery as an expert meth cook. That's the story of "El Camino": the torment of Pinkman during that time and his run for a new life after the end of the series, in chronological order: find car, find money, lose money, find escape route to Alaska, find money again and wrap up some unfinished business, final escape.

There's enough post-"Breaking Bad" material, but we also have plenty of flashbacks with former characters in the series. That's why I was saying that the time when you watched that has probably an impact in how much you'll like "El Camino". After a 6 years break from the series finale there are chances to like this more, and after all the "retro" material has also the role to remind you of stuff you might have forgot. If you watch "El Camino" immediately after the series it might seem that such extra sequences inserted here and there don't add any value to it. As example, there's a scene with some lunch in a diner from when Walter White & Jesse Pinkman were meth cooking partners. It would've been terribly disappointing to have zero Walter White in "El Camino" for somebody who took a break from "Breaking Bad" since 2013. On the other hand, as I said, that's just an extra sequence = it doesn't bring any significant content to the rest of the movie. Anyway, overall it's an ok movie, and it brings some "closure" feeling, which might have seemed a bit incomplete at the end of the series. That's all for today, 'til next time: stay safe ;)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5