El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie Blu-ray Review & Comments

Casimir Harlow

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The comment I see so often regarding this is somewhere along the lines of "if you haven't seen all of Breaking Bad, you won't get/understand/like it," which I think is really unfair to what Gilligan achieved with El Camino. Watched on its own merit, it still tells a complete and compelling story.

Obviously, if you have the background knowledge of the events of all 5 seasons, it's a really rewarding coda to that story. But if you know nothing of Breaking Bad, this is just a movie about a tortured guy who is trying to outrun the mistakes he made and it still works. I think that's pretty incredible. You don't have to know the ins and outs of a character's life story to be carried along by a tight script and a pitch-perfect performance.

But I guess not that surprising considering the same can be said of Better Call Saul.

If you've started watching the series and plan on finishing it, then it probably is best to leave it. But I can't think of another situation where I wouldn't recommend it.

SORRY TO BUTT IN, CAS! I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THIS MOVIE AND THEY ARE STRONG!
 
Given the arguments that rage over streaming vs disc release quality - this seems like an interesting point in time - where we are getting a 4K Dolby Vision and Atmos (albeit lossy) stream, many months ahead of a 1080p / DTS HD MA 5.1 Bluray.

Out of interest, has anyone (with decent internet bandwidth) compared the two? Do we think we are in the midst of a crossover where disc really will become second fiddle to the main event being available on streaming?
 
Thanks Cas - everything I want to hear again!

For those who have seen it - is it best to watch all BB again before watching this or can you manage without? I'm definitely picking this one up anyway.
 
I actually watched this first on Netflix and liked it so much that we then binged watched the series. Wrong way round I know but it was the spark that put us onto a great viewing journey.
 
Thanks Cas - everything I want to hear again!

For those who have seen it - is it best to watch all BB again before watching this or can you manage without? I'm definitely picking this one up anyway.

You can manage without, as Tom says, it's a superbly constructed solo story in its own right.
 
I was so pleased this turned out well. Pretty much removed the bad taste i had in my mouth from the series finale.
 
Yeah this was a pretty bold move after the success of Breaking Bad. But it actually serves as a brilliant epilogue to one of the all time great TV series.

Gilligan and Gould are writers at the top of their game, and I'm not anticipating (nor have I before) anything in TV with more excitement than what they serve up for the final season of Better Call Saul.
 
We have watched all 5 seasons of BB twice now and thought the film was a bit of a let down partially due to our expectations. 8/10 is a fair score.
 
For me this movie is.......pointless. I mean, it does stand on it's own but that exactly is the problem. It does not add anything to the TV show. Which ended the way it did with pretty much all conclusions.
It was nice seeing familiar faces again but that's all for me. 8/10 is maybe OK for a movie as such, but as some kind of continuation of the BB story.......nope.
 
For me this movie is.......pointless. I mean, it does stand on it's own but that exactly is the problem. It does not add anything to the TV show. Which ended the way it did with pretty much all conclusions.
It was nice seeing familiar faces again but that's all for me. 8/10 is maybe OK for a movie as such, but as some kind of continuation of the BB story.......nope.

Was it rather more to be viewed as a conclusion of a main characters storyline rather than a continuation to the story itself ? And why it can be viewed as a standalone piece on its own ?
 
You can watch it as a standalone piece. It's just one person's "closure". Was expecting a bit more bang bang to be honest :)
 
Because it really is not tied to BB at all. And as his story......can we expect another one with him as a.....dunno, shoemaker. I really wanna know how his grand kids will be called.

Sorry. But BB ended very good. Unlike many shows. He get out after all that. Now, he could have gone helping Dexter.......don't really care. Changes nothing.
 
Mixed feeling about this film. Never quite hits the high thrills of BB, but Jesse Vs The Disappearer is worth the price of admission alone.

Vince CLEARLY hates loose ends and TBF I'm not a fan of them either, so the finale of BB was fine for me, but I never rally needed to see more of Jesse, and since technically this isn't putting a full stop to his future?

But I'll pick it up for completion sakes along with a complete boxset of BCS when it eventually appears.
 
Because it really is not tied to BB at all. And as his story......can we expect another one with him as a.....dunno, shoemaker. I really wanna know how his grand kids will be called.

Sorry. But BB ended very good. Unlike many shows. He get out after all that. Now, he could have gone helping Dexter.......don't really care. Changes nothing.

I can strongly say that's untrue!

I understand that we didn't need the extra story, but what we got was a good epilogue and true closure for Jesse. That's not something often found in TV. Only the great shows and writers manage it.

As the way BB ended it didn't explore the consequences of his experience in that final chapter. I imagine that Vince was never truly happy about that.

Now he can close the book. And be happy doing so.
 
I can strongly say that's untrue!

I understand that we didn't need the extra story, but what we got was a good epilogue and true closure for Jesse. That's not something often found in TV. Only the great shows and writers manage it.

As the way BB ended it didn't explore the consequences of his experience in that final chapter. I imagine that Vince was never truly happy about that.

Now he can close the book. And be happy doing so.
errrrr......but now I wanna know what will do for a living. Is he gonna marry. How is he gonna call the kids. What kind of father he will be. Will he play with his grand kids.......

All we got is tha fact that he ended up in Canada. By car.
Slept well without knowing that. Was thinking that he's maybe in Panama.
 
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errrrr......but now I wanna know what will do for a living. Is he gonna marry. How is he gonna call the kids. What kind of father he will be. Will he play with his grand kids.......

All we got is tha fact that he ended up in Canada. By car. Slept well without knowing that. Was think that he's maybe in Panama.

That's for you to decide now he has closure from BB. That's the point of ending El Camino this way.

The way BB ended it was uncertain. He literally ended up
on the road. That had more meaning behind it, as in where was he headed and to do what.....
 
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errrrr......but now I wanna know what will do for a living. Is he gonna marry. How is he gonna call the kids. What kind of father he will be. Will he play with his grand kids.......

All we got is tha fact that he ended up in Canada. By car. Slept well without knowing that. Was think that he's maybe in Panama.

Might be worth avoiding spoilers
 
I loved BB

I liked this, but no love
 
I can strongly say that's untrue!

I understand that we didn't need the extra story, but what we got was a good epilogue and true closure for Jesse. That's not something often found in TV. Only the great shows and writers manage it.

As the way BB ended it didn't explore the consequences of his experience in that final chapter. I imagine that Vince was never truly happy about that.

Now he can close the book. And be happy doing so.
I'd respectfully point to the Sopranos, and even to Mad Men.
Both regarded as amongst the vert greatest of modern television drama.
Both show runners / writers regarded as amongst the greatest of the last 20-30 years.

And neither show ended with anything like closure.
 
El Camino was utterly pointless, and by comparison with the emotional jeopardy at the heart of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, was barely memorable.

Gilligan is and has been an outstanding storyteller, no arguments there.
But his discomfort with leaving even the loosest of loose ends has driven the making of El Camino.

There is so much more power to enduring storytelling if at least something is left to the audiences imagination. Its not as if the ending to Breaking Bad wasn't neat enough.

As a movie El Camino was fine, but nothing more. And given its ("why?) context, and the lack of palpable buzz around it and in its aftermath, quite how anyone would give it an 8 escapes me.

Again, one see why Kermode refuses to do scores.
 
El Camino was utterly pointless, and by comparison with the emotional jeopardy at the heart of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, was barely memorable.

Gilligan is and has been an outstanding storyteller, no arguments there.
But his discomfort with leaving even the loosest of loose ends has driven the making of El Camino.

There is so much more power to enduring storytelling if at least something is left to the audiences imagination. Its not as if the ending to Breaking Bad wasn't neat enough.

As a movie El Camino was fine, but nothing more. And given its ("why?) context, and the lack of palpable buzz around it and in its aftermath, quite how anyone would give it an 8 escapes me.

Again, one see why Kermode refuses to do scores.
Who cares about Kermode?! :rolleyes:

His reviews on BBC are awful. Basically if its a blockbuster he tends to look down his nose at it whilst not criticising it too much. If its any kind of world cinema film he says its the best thing ever...

Tiresome.
 
I'd respectfully point to the Sopranos, and even to Mad Men.
Both regarded as amongst the vert greatest of modern television drama.
Both show runners / writers regarded as amongst the greatest of the last 20-30 years.

And neither show ended with anything like closure.

And you're respectfully fine pointing to both of those. I certainly wasn't insinuating other shows couldn't manage it. A fair few have. We could debate the end of those shows, but there's no real need to here.

With regards to your subsequent post, El Camino is far from pointless for reasons I've already highlighted.

Cas has given it an 8 because it merits an 8 on different levels. I'd actually score it the same or perhaps even 8.5. You seem to be thinking along the lines that because it was "pointless" it doesn't deserve to be judged on it's own merit's. That's not true.
 
Because it really is not tied to BB at all. And as his story......can we expect another one with him as a.....dunno, shoemaker. I really wanna know how his grand kids will be called.

Sorry. But BB ended very good. Unlike many shows. He get out after all that. Now, he could have gone helping Dexter.......don't really care. Changes nothing.

I'll respectfully disagree that the series ended well. It reeked of focus-group intervention and, in my opinion anyway, Gillagan was so worried about screwing up the ending that he employed autopilot and made sure (nearly) everyone was happy.

I may be biased because, love them or hate them, the series finales to my two favourite ever series, The Sopranos and Battlestar Galactica, were extremely bold. They felt completely undiluted creatively. I didn't get that vibe AT all from Breaking Bad.

I'll always love Breaking Bad, but apart from the developments with Hank early on in season 5, I wish that exceptional season 4 finale 'Face-Off' had been the very end of the show.

...& don't get me started on that whole 'gun in the trunk' concept (hopefully vague enough to avoid a spoiler tag). That would have felt ridiculous and over the top in an early Schwarzenegger film, let alone an esteemed 'serious' TV drama...(!)

I respect that this isn't a popular opinion, but hey...
 

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