‘El Camino’ is a perfect follow-up to ‘Breaking Bad’
The second movie based on a popular and acclaimed television series has now been released.
“El Camino: The Breaking Bad Movie” is far more single-minded than the original 62-episode series that peppered its intrigue, violence, and nail-biting moments with shots from domestic life and Walter White having an intellect other than the criminal.
This movie, released in selected theaters but available since Friday on Netflix, does not go far afield from its basic story, the desire of Jesse Pinkman, the one-time student turned partner then adversary of Walter White, to be rid of his past and start over elsewhere, an elsewhere he can name.
Flashbacks from “Breaking Bad” give variety. Some of the characters from the series, mainly Jesse Plemons’s Todd, play extended roles, and you see Pinkman’s parents, but in general, “El Camino,” which takes its name from a car, is Jesse’s story. It is slower to involve than a typical “Breaking Bad” episode, but once it takes hold, somewhere around the time Todd frees Jesse from his captivity to his, Todd’s, home to help with a thorny problem, the attendant curiosity and grip is real.
Best of all, you see things Jesse learned from Walter. Jesse’s growth is one of the great evolution from “Breaking Bad.” In “El Camino,” he is fully matured, and it is fascinating to compare Aaron Paul’s current character to the 2008 premiere’s gangling kid who risked danger for money, and because he wasn’t fit for anything but drug crime. Paul, as an actor, advances as much as Pinkman does as a character. He easily holds the screen as a Jesse who maintains cool while showing how desperate he’s becoming as time passes, and he is no nearer to his desired escape.
For once, I’m not going to give away an ending. I think the suspense about whether Jesse is able to leave New Mexico and his pursuers behind is important to maintain. I will say I enjoyed elements from “Breaking Bad” that “El Camino” inherited, such as the tough stoicism of the characters, the combination of ingenuity and nerve Jesse uses to advance his objective, and the what-comes-around-goes-around nature of individual fate.
“El Camino” has some surprises, and these add to tension which is constant enough when the movie is straightforward. While you see Jonathan Banks as Mike and hear about Walt’s lawyer, Saul, now the lead character of “Better Call Saul,” Pinkman and the people he has to defeat, some vaguely familiar from “Breaking Bad,” get primary focus. In many ways, this is a second final episode, a chance to finish Jesse’s story the way Episode 62 sealed Walter’s.
One the of the best scenes is one in which Jesse goes to a vacuum cleaner shop to negotiate with the guy Saul called the “disappearer,” purveyor of a kind of underworld protection program that helps criminals rather than witnesses vanish. The disappearer is played by the veteran actor Robert Forster, who died at age 79 the day before “El Camino” was released.
“Breaking Bad” fans will miss some of the side plots, colorful characters, and dark humor that gave the series texture and more to watch than explosions and executions. The better tack is take “El Camino” on its own, as related to “Breaking Bad” but as an entity unto itself. It works better and is more satisfying on that level. Besides Jesse, and Aaron Paul playing him, “El Camino” shares the primary vision and surehanded sensibility of Vince Gilligan as conceiver and creator. Gilligan knows how to use pictures to create an engrossing story, and he does so with “El Camino.”
If there was no “Breaking Bad,” and more introduction was given to Jesse, and even Todd, and their characters, “El Camino” would stand as an interesting thriller about a man who is determined to change his life, in a way by creating an entirely new one. As the movie progresses, Jesse becomes more committed to his plan to live more easily away from Albuquerque. Our rooting factor increases with that commitment. As with most movies, we become invested in the lead character getting what he wants and involved in all he has to do to make his ambition happen.
The release pattern of the movie is odd. “El Camino” opened in selected theaters throughout the country on the same day it became accessible via Netflix, but unlike last year’s “Roma,” it’s difficult to find a big screen on which “El Camino” can be seen. About the only place in Philadelphia to see “El Camino” as movie instead of as a television show, is the Film Center, run by the Philadelphia Film Society” in the Harold Prince Theater at 1412 Chestnut Street.
There may be questions at award time about whether “El Camino” should be classified as a movie or a TV program. If it is officially deemed both, it would be another example of Netflix using its streaming platform, and production capability, to create hybrids that are films and television offerings at once.
Last year, as mentioned, “Roma” opened a new marketing seam for Netflix. In November, Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” with Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, will open in theaters early in the month, the first in fact, but be available on Netflix just before Thanksgiving. It seems like another blur between movie houses and living rooms. I was happy to see “El Camino” on my TV monitor. I would be more inclined to see “The Irishman” for the first time in a theater.
I mentioned “El Camino” is the second movie that derives its welcome from one having been a TV show. The first, of course, is “Downton Abbey,” which continues to attract enough audience to warrant a next movie installment. Coming up in November is “The Many Saints of Newark,” a movie based on “The Sopranos.”
Regarding subsequent “Breaking Bad” movies, I don’t see where “El Camino” leads to one. It pretty much ties up the general story. Of course, Jesse is alive, so he is free to not be a peaceful
as he claims he intends to be. “Better Call Saul” suffices to keep some “Breaking Bad” vibe going.
More great TV
“El Camino: The Breaking Bad Movie” did a lot to keep TV flowing this fall, but was not the vehicle that broke a long drought during which little on television grabbed and lasted.
“Criminal.,” also on Netflix, is the first program in a while that has me looking forward to seeing all of its episodes. The show, from Britain, is as basic as it gets. While it varies camera angles and expands shots to give some sense of movement, the program basically depicts an interrogation.
Watching the strategy of police detectives, of defense attorneys, and of silent or loquacious suspects becomes compelling. Rather than seeming monotonous, this program about gleaning information from persons of interest, draws you in and has you watching interviews with the accused as if they were tennis matches or intricate catand-mouse games, which, in a way, they are.
I also intend to return to another Netflix offering, The Politician,” which stars Tony recipient Ben Platt (“Dear Evan Hansen”) as a high school running to be President of his school as a next step in his ultimate long-held goal of becoming President of the United States.
Bien’s ‘Your Best Life’ now regular feature
That didn’t take long. Last week, in reporting that “Your Best Life” host Lisa Bien was doing a guest spot on Channel 17’s “Morning News,” I mentioned that I didn’t want to put either Channel 17 or Lisa on the spot about whether her appearances would be regular.
Well, one shot out of the gate, and a few planned features have turned into a lasting relationship.
Lisa’s appearance went so well, she has been named “Morning News’s” Motivation Contributor” and will be on with anchors Demetria Green and Nick Foley on what turns out to be a weekly basis.
Bien advocates that people emphasize the positive in themselves and seek goals and objectives no matter what obstacles, or comments from the peanut gallery, arise. She talks about how you can shape your world. Her next spot will be at 7:45 a.m. next Friday, October 25. On the same show, Sharla Feldscher, who introduced Lisa and Channel 17 to each other, will do a “Kidfun” segment of the kind that launched her career.
Useless daytime TV
Lately, I’ve had a lot of opportunity to watch daytime TV, and the word that it keeps repeating in my head is “vapid.”
Whether it’s a talk show, such as “Ellen” or “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” or a panel show, such as “The View” or “The Talk,” I find the conversation and information imparted as useless as a screen door in a submarine. How interesting after all are the Kardashians? And if they are interesting, why? I’ve never heard a witty or salient remark from any of them. Not even Caitlyn!
A fairly extensive survey found a lot of gushing over nothing, a hundred examples of fake uproar and false controversy, and humor of a kind that can’t even pass for lowest common denominator or middle of the road.
There are some oases. Rachael Ray may not discuss the issues of the day, and what she does, present ways to enjoy food that is economical and easy to prepare, is simple and sincere, so it plays as engaging and entertaining. Ray keeps it real rather than trying to dazzle or smirk smugly at her own cleverness. Catch Kelly Clarkson or even Ellen DeGeneres being able to do that.
I am impressed with fellow Temple alum and former “Today” host Tamron Hall. In her, I see an intention to do good work and to find a core message in segment that gives her audience a “take home.”
I enjoy Hoda Kotb, who, by the way, will be making a promotional appearance at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s main Logan Square branch on Friday, because she can go flowingly from a reporter’s role to that of a commentator and also is adept as making worthwhile conversation. Like Ray, Kotb has no airs. She’s just a good person to have at a party and can display her worldliness, intelligence, and sentiment, while just talking naturally.
One other who keeps me tuned in, although she is not strong on urgent content and spends copious time discussing Kardashians is Wendy Williams. Like the gang on the best of the gossip shows, “Page Six,” Williams seems to take such joy in talking about nonsense and making it salacious, she earns admiration for that art.
For the most part, daytime TV, especially afternoon TV, makes one appreciate the value of a good book.
Make that any book. Neal Zoren’s television column appears every Monday.