Last Breath Review

Title: Last Breath

Director: Alex Parkinson

Writer: Mitchell LaFortune, Alex Parkinson, David Brooks

Cast: Finn Cole, Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Mark Bonnar

Genre: Drama / Survival

Plot

When deep-sea diver Chris Lemons finds himself stranded hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface, his fellow divers and the crew of the above ship must battle against the clock and relentless weather to rescue him before it's too late.

Thoughts

For those unaware, the film is based on the true story of Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), a commercial diver who was lost at the bottom of the North Sea for close to 40 minutes in 2012. The film is helmed by Alex Parkinson, the same man who directed the 2019 documentary about Lemons' ordeal of the same name.

For those hoping for a survival movie (like me), Last Breath isn't that. Instead, it's a rescue movie, one that stays far too faithful for its own good. The film follows the main crew and three deep-sea divers, Chris (Cole), Dave (Simu Liu) & Duncan (Harrelson), who are assigned together for the upcoming dive. After some unexpected complications on the dive, Chris becomes trapped underwater, leaving his diving team and the ship's crew to try and work out a way to save him before it's too late.

The main issue is that Last Breath wants to stay as faithful to the 2012 incident as possible. So much so that it doesn't leave much room to create any drama, resulting in a rescue mission film that's devoid of any tension or dread, which is borderline criminal. Last Breath feels like a slave to the source material rather than using it as a springboard to propel itself further. As a result, the film lacks the gut-punch of fear or nerve-shredding tension, instead, it feels as if the cast is concerned for Chris but that they're prepared and going through the motions in a business-as-usual rescue mission. Which unsurprisingly doesn't hit the audience with any sense of danger, and it's like watching a routine drill unfold.

One other issue that crops up is that the dialogue at times feels very exposition-heavy, with a script that doesn't work nearly as well as it should. The film's score also doesn't seem to match the action and can feel at odds with the imagery unfolding on screen. Simu Liu and Woody Harrelson both feel underutilised in the film, spending most of the time just sitting and hoping instead of being given anything worthwhile to sink (nice diver joke) themselves into.

That's not to say the entire film is bad. Its low runtime means it doesn't overstay its welcome, and the visuals, especially the underwater scenes, are shot really well, giving you a sense of the ocean's terrifying nature, but it doesn't really do all that much on top of that to build any moments of drama.

In a nutshell

The best way to sum up Last Breath is by calling it a 'Run-of-the-Mill' film. It does what it needs to and tells its story competently, but it feels far too faithful, and any sense of tension quickly evaporates. Whilst the core story is interesting, the film sadly is not. You're probably just better off watching the initial documentary.