El Camino review: Breaking Bad movie a bittersweet character study

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie features a masterful performance from Aaron Paul as it finally answers one of the show’s biggest questions.

Ever since Breaking Bad ended, fans have wanted to know what happened next for Jesse Pinkman. And now, thanks to El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, we finally know.

The Netflix movie is the highly anticipated sequel to one of the best TV shows of all time, and if you’re one of the legions of Breaking Bad fans, it doesn’t disappoint. There are plenty of familiar faces, from beginning to end, and lots of little details that will reward anybody who watched the series (which is also available for streaming on Netflix).

But El Camino is more than just fan service. Even if you’ve never seen the series, it’s a wrenching character piece, centered on a beautifully broken performance by Aaron Paul.

It’s been six years since Paul inhabited the role of Jesse Pinkman, for which he won three Emmy Awards. And though the movie takes place in the aftermath of the 2013 series finale, Paul is not the same actor he was the first time around. He’s taken other strong turns in projects like The Path and Eye in the Sky, and he turned 40 this year.

So it’s fascinating to see him step back into Jesse’s shoes, playing him again with six years’ more experience. Maybe it’s because Paul is older and more mature, maybe it’s because Jesse has been through hell—probably it’s a combination of both—but this Jesse Pinkman is a very different man. He’s still sarcastic and scrappy, but he’s not running around as impulsive or energetic, and it’s not often he utters his famous expletive anymore.

Instead, after spending all that time trapped in a cage, he’s much more measured and haunted. Every move Jesse makes feels deliberate, and El Camino uses numerous close-ups so Paul can show, often without words, how haunted Jesse is. There’s so much pain and fear inside of him, not just about what he does now but who he’s supposed to be, and he always seems one moment away from falling apart.

The film tracks Jesse right after his escape, as he makes a bid for freedom. Is it freedom from his captors? Freedom from law enforcement? Freedom from years of being on the dark side? It’s all of the above, the film seems to say.

Vince Gilligan’s script cuts between Jesse’s present-day predicaments and the struggles he had while in captivity, allowing the audience to understand how badly he was affected by being held hostage. A tic Aaron Paul has in one scene is explained by showing something Jesse endured earlier. Why does he make one choice and not another? Fans will understand when a flashback shows what may have informed his decision.

So as Jesse moves from one place to another, trying to tie up physical loose ends, he’s also tying up metaphorical ones. El Camino moves at a slower pace, asking the audience to really take stock of Jesse’s life; the script ventures to locations that reveal more about his history. Even if you’ve seen every episode, you’ll understand him better through the film.

Performances are uniformly good, but this is Aaron Paul’s movie, and he proves again that he’s one of the best actors working today. He communicates so much in his performance, showing so many nuances to the character he knows so well. The emotion he brings to the role will have the audience’s hearts breaking for him.

Because Paul is able to be so vulnerable, so genuinely raw, the point of the movie becomes not “What happened to Jesse?” but “What’s going to happen to Jesse?” We find ourselves caring less about the literal action and more about his mental and emotional health—we can tell he’s hurting and we want him to be okay. This movie is about Jesse’s growth, his atonement, and also showcases Paul’s growth as an actor.

In the way that Breaking Bad was Walter White’s story, El Camino is Jesse Pinkman’s story. It’s not action-packed, and it’s not setting up some kind of next spinoff for the franchise. It’s a study of who Jesse is and who he wants to be, and it accomplishes that in an absolutely beautiful way.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Breaking Bad are both streaming now on Netflix.