The long-awaited movie sequel to Breaking Bad (2008-2013) picks up where the show ended, with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) on the run from the police, getting in touch with old acquaintances who might help him and desperately looking for enough cash to start a new life… perhaps in Alaska, as Mike (Jonathan Banks) once told him, we learn in a flashback. Several familiar faces from the show, now deceased, appear in flashbacks that add additional tension to Jessie’s escape, as well as some emotional significance. Fans of the show will appreciate Vince Gilligan’s style, and Paul is fine, even if the movie feels far from necessary. 

2019-U.S. VOD. 122 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Melissa Bernstein, Vince Gilligan, Mark Johnson, Charles Newirth, Aaron Paul. Written and directed by Vince Gilligan. Cast: Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman), Jesse Plemons (Todd Alquist), Krysten Ritter (Jane Margolis), Charles Baker, Matt Jones, Scott Shepherd… Robert Forster, Jonathan Banks, Bryan Cranston.

Trivia: Alternative title: El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Forster’s last film. Also shown in theaters at the time of its premiere. 

Last word: “If, after 12 years, you haven’t watched Breaking Bad, you’re probably not going to start now. If you do, I hope that this movie would still be engaging on some level, but there’s no doubt in my mind that you won’t get as much enjoyment out of it. We don’t slow down to explain things to a non-Breaking Bad audience. I thought early on in the writing of the script, ‘Maybe there’s a way to have my cake and eat it too. Maybe there’s a way to explain things to the audience.’ If there was a way to do that, it eluded me.” (Gilligan, The Hollywood Reporter)