A nostalgic generation was eagerly awaiting the premiere of Netflix’s El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. It’s only been six years since the last season of the acclaimed series ended, but fans missed Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. The streaming platform took the opportunity to bring a plot of proven solidity to an audience always willing to see more.
It is not the first time that the path from television to theaters has been crossed. At the beginning of the year 2000, HBO made two films of Sex and the City, one of the most recognized series of the channel. This year, in addition to Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey came to the world of cinemas, another of the productions that marked a period. The response of the audience was overwhelming in the purchase of tickets. Fans wanted to know the fate of one of the most famous families on television.
The change of format is not new, but it is beginning to be seen to have greater possibilities. Success is not only reserved for productions such as Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, which made the leap to the big screen. There is a lot of speculation about the return of other stories that marked a time, without the developers reaching an agreement. Breaking Bad opens the possibility to other television products, as each of its episodes is a critically acclaimed production.
In recent years, television has gained in strength and now it is common to see very recognized actors from cinema accepting roles in series, which was previously quite rare. Viewers can enjoy the interpretations of Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, Winona Ryder, Penelope Cruz, Ewan McGregor, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Lange, Anthony Hopkins, among others, in characters that extend by several episodes.
The power of television today is also reflected in the investments made, with certain series much more expensive than some of the films that go directly to theaters. The audience numbers are so high that the quality of the productions grows, and no matter if they have to invest millions to make the shows, the producers know that they will recover the money.
Breaking Bad is evidence of the trend of the power of television. Its numbers were always quite high and it ended up winning all the prizes and the recognition of an audience, which places it in the list of the best series of all times. Not for nothing, Breaking Bad had solid performances, a story out of the ordinary, great production and an excellent script.
The film marks the return of Jesse Pinkman to narrate what happened after that scream of freedom, fleeing in the 1978 Chevrolet model El Camino. The evolution of the character is remarkable; what he lived in his days of captivity left a mark on the always problematic boy. But he seems totally willing to put his past behind him and do whatever it takes to escape from Albuquerque and a fate in jail.
El Camino follows the same storyline as the last season of the series and follows Jesse in a busy couple of days trying to stay away from the police. It also shows some flashbacks as memories of Pinkman with Mike, Todd, Jane and of course Walter White, whom all the fans wanted to see again, but without knowing how he would fit into the story after his death in the last episode aired in 2013.
Jesse learned from Walter how to sneak away and uses all his resources to do it. The film has an intimate tone and shows a great performance by Aaron Paul, with a quieter character and traumas from his captivity. Although he seems very lost, he maintains a force that helps him think of all the steps with an intelligence that Jesse would not have had at the beginning of the show, but that shows the growth of the character.
Some people expected perhaps more action or a different plot, but despite the high expectations, Vince Gilligan’s film manages to visually and emotionally convey a story from the subtlety, with a language that shows both the external and internal scars of Jesse.
The film was designed to replicate the success of the series. El Camino has a multi-platform combination, with a limited cinema presence, while being released through Netflix. In this way, all the lines dividing the film and television format industries into parallel worlds are erased, and opportunities are created to experiment with stories of proven success.