El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie [Netflix] - *Spoilers*

Was a bit disappointed. First obvious thing, is that the actors age, so creating 'flashbacks' is a bit risky.

Someone mentioned that they thought perhaps Walt had been de-aged. Funnily, when I looked at the scene in the diner, I immediately thought it had come from the BB cutting room floor, so to speak.

To a certain extent, the bad guys had to get their comeuppance, hence the gunfight and explosion. If you read that BBC review quoted earlier, it seems to suggest the audience would find humour in the scenes about the poor cleaning lady. I think the reviewer wasn't paying attention. To me the point of that scene was to hark back to how Jesse described Tod as a "dead eyed opey". Which in fairness was was played out perfectly in the film. No idea how that was seen as some attempt at humour.

and this gem : " It picks up where we left off, with Pinkman driving through the fences of the Nazi compound White had rescued him from in White’s titular El Camino car, ...". That wasn't White's car, he arrived in a saloon car, remember the 'guard' was asking Walter how many cubic inches the engine block was?

So, where would I have liked it to go? Well Hank and Steve deserved a proper funeral. What happened to the money Walt gave to the Grey Matter couple?(he's actually English, have seen him in other stuff). AND.......

one day at dinner in the last year or two, I threw out the possibility of Walt not actually being dead. "hey, I haven't finished BB yet!" . Whoops! Well, he definitely is now. One of the TV reports in the background refers to his death.

I give the film 6/10. Not for style or potrayal of characters - as usual, that's 10/10 - but for missed opportunities.

I really don't think I've seen any bad acting in BB, BCS or El Camino. Perhaps its a case of the characters being well developed, so playing them might be easier.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

Whoever wrote that was determined to not like it. 1 star out of 5?

sounded like a Jennifer Gannon esque review on the Last Word...probably scarred that there wasnt a diverse enough cast or lack of Transgender characters

NickNickleby wrote: »

So, where would I have liked it to go? Well Hank and Steve deserved a proper funeral. What happened to the money Walt gave to the Grey Matter couple?(he's actually English, have seen him in other stuff). AND.......

one day at dinner in the last year or two, I threw out the possibility of Walt not actually being dead. "hey, I haven't finished BB yet!" . Whoops! Well, he definitely is now. One of the TV reports in the background refers to his death.

Well Hank and Steve would have died 2-3 months before, same time Jesse was first taken by the Nazis, so there was no real reason to have seen their funerals as Jesse wouldn't have been there. As for the Grey Matter couple, Walt made sure they'd hold on to the money and then give it to Walt Jr if I remember right (lie and make it some sort of scholarship or trust fund thing so it doesn't look like it came from Walt). Given they thought they'd be killed by hitmen if they didn't go through with it, I'd say they probably complied. They wouldn't have needed to keep the money themselves and going to the cops would have ruined their lives as if they really believed there were hitmen watching them, they'd be put in witness protection and lose the cushy life they had. Giving the money to Walt Jr would have been the best option for them.

But I really don't see how anyone could think Walt was still alive after the BB finale. His death in the lab was the perfect coda to everything, and the last shot is a long shot where he's lying on the ground after being shot in the side and his eyes are open throughout. He didn't want a plan to survive as he knew he was dying anyway with the cancer. Going to the Nazi's compound at all was his last chance at revenge and putting things right (even more so when he saw what they were doing to Jesse). He wouldn't have come up with a plan to fake his death. Death was coming for him regardless. I would have been majorly p*ssed off if it was revealed in El Camino that he somehow survived or faked his death.

Probably one of the best compliments I can give El Camino is that it resisted the urge to retcon or undo anything. Mike, Jane and Walt's scenes were all really well done and could easily be slipped into the middle of the episodes from that timeframe. There were enough references to characters and events that happened without being over-indulgent. El Camino is definitely part of a whole, but it also stands well enough on its own to be enjoyable.

It still didn't really need to be made though.

Jesse Plemons shocked me with his size. Outside of that it was ok, and I thought the scene in the welding factory was all wrong for Jesse, he was never a proper killer and to pop two like that, nah, not buying Jesse Pinkman killing for money no matter how desperate he is

Hector Savage wrote: »

Btw, the Junkyard guy - Joe, he was sweeping the car for bugs and then it went off, so he legged it ... how come the car was bugged ?

Wasn't a bug. He called it Lojack, which is an anti-theft tracking device. People install it on their own cars so if it's stolen the police can track it. Todd might have had it on the car himself, but the police activated it because they knew Jesse took the car. That's why Joe's sensor didn't go off straight away. It only went off right when the police activated the tracker.

golfball37 wrote: »

It has a rating of 10 on IMDB with almost 500 votes cast so far !

Tis grand. Entertaining.

A 10? Nah.

That was entertaining. Like a bonus episode of BB, we know what happened Walt and now we know what happened Jessie, lovely to get an ending for Jessie. Solidly entertaining, funny in parts, nicely shot.

Enjoyable/10

Penn wrote: »

Well Hank and Steve would have died 2-3 months before, same time Jesse was first taken by the Nazis, so there was no real reason to have seen their funerals as Jesse wouldn't have been there. As for the Grey Matter couple, Walt made sure they'd hold on to the money and then give it to Walt Jr if I remember right (lie and make it some sort of scholarship or trust fund thing so it doesn't look like it came from Walt). Given they thought they'd be killed by hitmen if they didn't go through with it, I'd say they probably complied. They wouldn't have needed to keep the money themselves and going to the cops would have ruined their lives as if they really believed there were hitmen watching them, they'd be put in witness protection and lose the cushy life they had. Giving the money to Walt Jr would have been the best option for them.

But I really don't see how anyone could think Walt was still alive after the BB finale. His death in the lab was the perfect coda to everything, and the last shot is a long shot where he's lying on the ground after being shot in the side and his eyes are open throughout. He didn't want a plan to survive as he knew he was dying anyway with the cancer. Going to the Nazi's compound at all was his last chance at revenge and putting things right (even more so when he saw what they were doing to Jesse). He wouldn't have come up with a plan to fake his death. Death was coming for him regardless. I would have been majorly p*ssed off if it was revealed in El Camino that he somehow survived or faked his death.

Probably one of the best compliments I can give El Camino is that it resisted the urge to retcon or undo anything. Mike, Jane and Walt's scenes were all really well done and could easily be slipped into the middle of the episodes from that timeframe. There were enough references to characters and events that happened without being over-indulgent. El Camino is definitely part of a whole, but it also stands well enough on its own to be enjoyable.

It still didn't really need to be made though.

I think your reply is based on the Jesse story being the only possible story. My point was that I think they could have widened it a bit.

well, to the point about the funerals: In the last episode of BB, Walt gives the coordinates of their grave to Skyler to use as a bargaining chip. Did she use it? Did it help her?

Walt surviving? Why not?? and why not against his will, eg police rescue him and do all in their power to bring him to justice. I don't think Walt was driven by revenge, I think he was driven to make sure that Blue Meth remained the signature product of Walt and Jesse, not hijacked by the Nazis.

THe Schwartz's and the money.... sure you could write almost anything to extend that. But it presents a moral dilemma (for the writers). Can the family be allowed to benefit from ill-gotten gains? Can Walt's dream be realised? I suppose it could be argued that, by not including it, the dilemma is avoided:D.

One thing that BB was good for was plot twists.

Of course, as you say it didn't really need to be made, but if making it, I felt they could have got more out of it. I disagree about its ability to stand on its own. I found it hard going at times. Perhaps I was expecting too much. I would rather know how Walt Junior, Holly and Marie Schrader fare, with them being totally innocent victims of Walts enterprise, than see what happened to Jesse.

Gave it a watch. It was grand. Same kinda feel I've gotten from BB and BCS. Maybe 1 or 2 moments where it was borderline losing it into cinematic territory. They reined them in though and kept it mostly BB/BCS feel.

Had just seen about Robert Forster passing away just before. He did grand there.