El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie Has Die-Hard Fans Divided
"El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie" was released over six years after the series finale of "Breaking Bad," and for the most part, critics and general audiences seemed to love the 2019 film. However, among the die-hard fans of the crime drama, the movie's reception is somewhat more divided. On the positive side of things, a lot of fans feel it's a fun little epilogue that perfectly wraps up Jesse Pinkman's (Aaron Paul) story after things were left somewhat ambiguous in the series finale.
"All I wanted after breaking bad was to see what happened to Jesse immediately after," said u/zatchattack on a Reddit thread discussing "El Camino." "I got that and more, loved it." A separate user, u/IncognitoKing69, basically agreed and believed it was a fitting end to Jesse's story. "I enjoyed it. It felt like a good way to close the story since we wouldn't have known what actually happens to Jesse after breaking bad. Was the movie needed? No. It was definitely more of a fan service entry for the series. We like the character. We want to see him make it out. From the beginning of the series we knew he was a genuinely loving but misguided character. It only felt right that his life didn't end in tragedy."
Still, not everyone is a fan of what "El Camino" tried to do, and there's been something of a common complaint amongst its various detractors, especially when compared to "Breaking Bad."
Some felt that El Camino was unnecessary and boring
While there's a big contingent of the "Breaking Bad" fanbase that's more than satisfied with what "El Camino" tried to accomplish with Jesse Pinkman's character arc, it definitely did not please everyone. u/Dismal-Ad3069 on Reddit expressed mixed feelings overall for the film, saying, "I watched El Camino just after completing the series, I would say it was not needed imo. Boring, nothing much happening, shoehorned Cameo of Walter just for the sake of fan service."
On a separate thread, u/Kayters expressed similar misgivings. "I was kinda curious to watch it and I honestly didn't like it a bit. I don't know if this will be a controversial opinion or not, but it felt ... unnecessary," they said. "I was bored as he** after 30mn. Something that never happened with BB. What's the point of this movie?"
Still, it's important to note that even these threads expressing disappointment seem to be filled with overwhelmingly positive comments defending "El Camino" and its place in "Breaking Bad" canon. Still, reception among more hardcore fans seems decidedly more divided than the series that preceded it or even the spin-off series "Better Call Saul."