El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Netflix | Release Date: October 11, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
IndieWireSteve GreeneOct 11, 2019
That this film can stand on its own, all while paying tribute to the show that helped birth it, is maybe the most impressive escape act of them all. Read full review
90
Vanity FairSonia SaraiyaOct 11, 2019
Aaron Paul scintillates, once more, as his Breaking Bad character. Read full review
90
The VergeLiz Shannon MillerOct 11, 2019
Paul already has a pile of awards acknowledging his acting talents, but his work in El Camino is staggering, given the high difficulty factor that comes with having to play so many variations of this character. Read full review
90
The AtlanticShirley LiOct 11, 2019
The film is a visceral, ruminative, and emotionally satisfying epilogue in which the broken Jesse reconciles with his past and searches for the hope and humanity he’d lost—or, rather, been denied by Walt. Read full review
90
IGNDavid GriffinOct 11, 2019
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie is a tense, well-written story with a brilliant performance from Aaron Paul. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 11, 2019
While it strikes a different visual tone and moves at a faster pace than many of the TV show episodes (as one might expect from a feature-length story), thanks to Gilligan’s masterful writing and directing, and the bold and powerful and layered performance from Aaron Paul, it’s an extended epilogue quite worthy of the “Breaking Bad” brand. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoOct 11, 2019
The result is a project that feels true to its source, a well-crafted epilogue for a beloved character who vividly understands the concept of consequences. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubErik AdamsOct 11, 2019
Refreshingly, Gilligan doesn’t try to run away from his TV-writing instincts: Each proceeding stage in Jesse’s high-stakes predicament plays out like its own distinct episode, a further blurring of the lines between media that might’ve been distracting in a bygone era, but is right at home on Netflix. Read full review
83
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanOct 11, 2019
Considering he’s spent nine whole seasons within his quirky New Mexico universe, there was never any doubt that Gilligan loves his characters, but goddamn does El Camino bring that idea home. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichOct 11, 2019
What’s lacking in this entertaining pulp quest, I think, is some essential surprise. Read full review
80
Film ThreatBradley GibsonOct 24, 2019
For fans of Breaking Bad, it’s a satisfying return to and continuation of the story. Read full review
80
SlateWilla PaskinOct 11, 2019
El Camino is a sumptuously shot, totally entertaining, somewhat needless, but sure-why-not elaboration of what has come before. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzOct 11, 2019
Beyond its brash confidence as a piece of filmmaking and its homages to the Western (including the use of a wider frame than was used on the show), El Camino is fan service executed at a very high level — an attempt to answer the perennial child’s bedtime-story question, “And then what happened?” after the words “The End” have already been pronounced and the parent has reached for the light switch. Read full review
80
EmpireDan JolinOct 11, 2019
Starting the moment Breaking Bad ended, this is very much a ‘what happened next’ double-episode. Which means, short of resurrecting Walter White, El Camino does precisely what you want it do. Read full review
80
TimeJudy BermanOct 11, 2019
It’s a true movie, with the taut pacing, satisfying conclusion and grand visual scale that distinction implies. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneAlan SepinwallOct 11, 2019
When you have Vince Gilligan operating near the peak of his powers, and taking the time to fix one of the few things the show didn’t get quite right, it makes for one hell of an entertaining gift. Read full review
80
The GuardianPaul MacInnesOct 11, 2019
While it has both style and content, El Camino feels more like a feature-length TV episode than an actual movie. It is too compact and fragmented to truly stand on its own, and viewers who have not seen the preceding 62 hours of Breaking Bad will likely struggle to enjoy it. Read full review
76
TheWrapRobert AbeleOct 11, 2019
The movie ultimately serves as an coiled and heartfelt tribute to Jesse’s powerful trajectory, and Paul’s own chemically active, emotionally reactive brilliance in one of our peak TV era’s defining series. Read full review
75
Washington PostHank StueverOct 11, 2019
Nothing about El Camino makes a case that we are necessarily better off with it than without it, or that some great hole has now been filled. It turns out we were fine with the idea of not knowing exactly what happened to Jesse; that way, we could always hope the best. Now that we know, dare we ask for a little more? Or leave it be? Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergOct 11, 2019
El Camino is a high-quality piece of suspense and action filmmaking carried by Paul's still-tremendous performance as Jesse Pinkman. It looks great, sounds great and if you're a fan, it's full of cameos and references that are sure to amuse. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJason BaileyOct 11, 2019
The film is undeniably entertaining, it’s fun to see these characters and creators again, and hey, who am I to begrudge them a victory lap? But ultimately, the contrast between the epilogue film and the source material is undeniable. Read full review
65
CNNBrian LowryOct 11, 2019
What ensues, though, is essentially a rather low-octane thriller, punctuated by trips down memory lane. And while there are some fine moments buried within all that -- some showcasing Gilligan's quirky streak, like an incongruous rendition of the song "Sharing the Night Together" -- it still feels a trifle unnecessary. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChuck BowenOct 20, 2019
For all the film’s invention, for all its trickiness, it doesn’t really move. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen RodrickOct 12, 2019
But then, just as quickly, Jesse is back in the present-day trying to build an escape route to a new life. Without Walter, he is just another manchild with a gun and a pile of money in a garbage bag. Sometimes, the past is the past and it really is dead. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertOct 11, 2019
El Camino is enjoyable as a kind of epilogue to “Breaking Bad.” It’s unnecessary, but it’s good enough to offer two solid hours of pleasure to anyone who loved the mother ship. Read full review
63
New York PostMichael StarrOct 11, 2019
It’s fine, if not a little too long at two hours — but for “Breaking Bad” fans jonesing for something, anything, connected to the chronological timeframe of their beloved series, it should do the trick. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredLuke ParkerOct 31, 2019
A simple and simply satisfying seal, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie will, in no way, tarnish the alchemic legacy of its TV precursor, though it doesn’t do much to enhance it. Read full review
60
Total FilmJack ShepherdOct 11, 2019
El Camino, then, offers a final – if not wholly necessary – farewell to some of the greatest characters ever put to television screens. And Jesse, poor Jesse, finally gets the closing chapter he deserves. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJames PoniewozikOct 11, 2019
Paul’s performance was often overshadowed by Cranston’s during the series’s run, but he’s phenomenal here. Read full review
60
The TelegraphEd PowerOct 11, 2019
El Camino didn’t need to exist – but for fans who craved extra Jesse Pinkman in their lives, it hits the spot. Read full review
60
VoxAlissa WilkinsonOct 11, 2019
The fun comes from seeing your favorite characters again, not finally resolving missing pieces that have tortured your sleep for six years. And on that front, El Camino delivers. Read full review
60
VarietyDaniel D'AddarioOct 11, 2019
There’s a momentum to his story — it has a heist-movie-style checklist, carried out by a team composed of only one — that has its own satisfactions, and set-pieces with real tension, even if they lead to a less-than-novel place. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 12, 2019
The choppy, episodic-TV vignettes-“story” never works in a feature film. But there is a “Breaking Bad” logic to the narrative. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesStaff (Not Credited)Oct 11, 2019
El Camino isn’t horrible, but it’s not commendable either, and given the legacy of “Breaking Bad,” mildly entertaining isn’t good enough. Read full review
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