El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Vince Gilligan, October 11, 2019) Movie • Page 8

I disagree with this. It was actually one of the few people who would make sense showing up at Todd's apartment looking for money. Todd clearly doesn't have friends because he's a weirdo, and seemingly everybody else he has a relationship was killed by Walt. That pretty much only leaves the Welder, who knows Todd is a criminal who keeps money on hand.

 

Pretty sure Vince himself and others involved have said it functions well as a standalone movie, which I disagree with. But that's fine, I still really enjoyed it! I just didn't find it to be at the same level of quality as BrBa or BCS.

 

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'Breaking Bad' Returns: Aaron Paul and Vince Gilligan Take a TV Classic for a Spin in 'El Camino'

As I said, I truly believe this movie would work fine for a non-BB viewer if you take out the Walt/Mike/Jane cameos and give some explanation for Forsters (RIP) character (and remove the "previously missed pickup" aspect). You'll have to do a tiny bit of dot connection on your own, which shouldn't be a problem.

The story is a pretty basic crime drama, and it's done well if you remove your "this isn't necessary" bias.

Honestly, the more I think about it the more I really love this movie. The only thing I think is "unnecessary" is the Walt cameo, but I was happy to have it.

 

This made me crave cup noodles. Imma eat some now.

 

This is not equivalent to what I’m saying. I’m not saying breaking bad shouldn’t be a show. I’m saying the 2 hour epilogue about Jesse isn’t necessary as I personally liked how his story ended in breaking bad. Again this is my opinion.

 

Why are you being like this

 

Because the thread has people complaining how this movie isn't necessary, as if any movie ever is 'necessary,' and it's just a stupid complaint. People either like it or not but acting like this movie is unnecessary is some kind of weird 'holier-than-thou' viewpoint.

 

Loved it. Everything I expected it to be.

 

Fuck :(

 

Shit the movie was worth it for Forster's scene alone. Everything else was cake

 

He explained what he meant by "necessary" and it clearly wasn't "there is art that is necessary and this isn't it." It's a not particularly entertaining or insightful film that neither stands on its own nor adds anything to our understanding or appreciation of the BB universe. You're taking the term "necessary" so literally as if you don't already understand that

 

Clearly I disagree with both his points, as I explained in another comment. It does add to the BB franchise and doesn’t have to stand alone as a movie because it’s a sequel.

 

You absolutely did not explain how it added to the BB franchise lol. You just condescendingly said "It actually does add on to Breaking Bad. Did you forget that Jesse is a main character in the show and the movie?"

 

Yeah, finding out what happens to the second most important main character in the entire show isn’t adding anything. You got me there.

 

What did we find out happened to him? That he went to Alaska? Who cares where exactly he ended up going? His ending in BB was to show that he was finally free, and this movie didn't change or add anything to that idea.

If anything, what could have been an interesting sequel idea would be showing Jesse years down the line. A melancholy drama about a man living a restarted life in a remote village and learning to cope with his guilt and trauma could have been a cool character study or something

 

Oh man I'd be so onboard

 

Like I said before, not liking what it ended up being is fine; I liked it didn’t love it. But to act like it didn’t add anything to Breaking Bad is blatantly ignoring plot.

 

If I had the editing props I would take that final Jesse scene in Breaking Bad and do the 80s comedy thing where it freezes on a character and says what ends up happening to him. "Jesse adopts a new identity and moves to Alaska, where he lives out the rest of his days in peace." That would have given us all the plot that this 2hrs gave us

 

That would be a big chunk of it but there’s multiple other things in the movie that were new and added more to other characters that you’re purposefully not mentioning.

 

...Such as?

 

Everything with the welders, Todd, flashback to the diner, the scenes with Skinny and Badger, and then the final scene with Jane.

That’s off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s more and I could explain in detail what in those scenes were more than just listing plot points but I know you’ll just continue ignoring them so I’m just not gonna continue on with this conversation.

 

I "purposely" didn't mention those things because they just don't really matter (and you didn't bring them up before either so I don't get where you're coming in with this out of nowhere, condescending "I know you'll just continue ignoring them" thing, as if I was ever ignoring you bringing them up before). Again, they add nothing to our understanding of the show or those particular characters that we don't already know. If anything, minor, inconsequential scenes that just reiterate things we already know about a character is typically seen as bad writing.

It's like saying a flashback scene of Walt and Skyler having breakfast discussing the morning news is "adding something" just by virtue of it being an extra scene that features characters from the show. Like "Ah they've finally showed us what Walt had for breakfast the morning of the Fly episode!" Actually to bring this full circle, that's a perfect example of a piece of art that would not be "necessary" in the literal sense this time, as in if I was the one writing it then I would actually say "this is not necessary" and cut it altogether

 

This was good but it did feel like Gilligan was terrified of doing anything too surprising that might taint the overall legacy of the show. There weren’t really any surprises, it was just fleshing out the ending for Jesse that was implied at the end of BB. Which I’m fine with since I wanted more closure there.

 

Why do we care about the welders? What did we learn about Badger and Skinny that we didn’t already know? That they play video games in their spare time? They were always down to help Jesse in the series. What does the diner scene add to the Walt/Jesse relationship beyond just giving the movie a way to shoehorn a Heisenberg cameo in there? There were multiple scenes between the two of them like that in the actual show. We don’t actually learn anything about any of these characters other than maybe getting more of a glimpse into Todd, which then why not just make a Todd movie?

We know the ending of this movie before it starts. That’s also what makes it unnecessary. The show spent years torturing Jesse, quite literally in the final season. They show us him speeding off to freedom in the finale. Gilligan has spent years saying he believes Jesse got away. He’s not getting the band back together to go back on that and give Jesse anything other than escape and peace at the end of this movie. It shows its hand and robs it of all tension.

The movie doesn’t really try at all to make a case for its existence. It’s perfectly fine to enjoy spending time with these characters again while also wondering what the point is.

 

I’m with @Marx&Recreation on this. It wasn’t a bad movie by any means but it wasn’t terribly interesting. (Or necessary hurr durr)

I’ll stick to BCS.