‘Last Breath’ Review

‘Last Breath’, the new survival thriller from director Alex Parkinson, is an adaptation of his own documentary which is itself adapted from the 2012 true story of a deep sea saturation diver who is stranded on the North Sea floor and all of the men and women who work to save his life. It’s the type of story that, when told the one sentence synopsis by a friend, provokes a genuine “woah, that’s crazy” reaction. And yet, unfortunately, ‘Last Breath’ is evidence that just because a news story is interesting and inspiring, does not mean that it justifies a feature length film.

The film opens with Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), newly engaged with a bright future ahead of him, letting his fiancee Morag (Bobby Rainsbury) know that he has been called up for a deep sea diving expedition in the North Sea. The first thirty minutes of the film introduces our other main characters, including his diving team of Duncan (Woody Harrelson) and Dave (Simu Liu). The dialogue of these early scenes is hacky “get to know you” stuff, the characters aren’t fleshed out beyond the most basic archetypes: Chris is the bright young man, excited to be here; Duncan is the seasoned veteran in it for one last job; Dave is the stoic, standoffish expert.

As they embark on their diving mission, Chris and Dave are on the bottom of the North Sea floor when a swell disrupts the ship’s mechanics, causing a dramatic drift that severs Chris’s umbilical cord, leaving him stranded at the bottom of the sea.

As in any survival thriller, from here on out the film alternates its focus between the rescuers and the to-be-rescued. Early on in the film, Chris tries to calm his fiancee by explaining that what he does is similar to going to space, and that analogy is fitting insofar as many of the survival thriller films that come to mind as a point of comparison are set in space, such as ‘The Martian’ or ‘Apollo 13’. Those movies succeed by showing competent people, in space and on the ground, as people of action, trying to solve problems where the stakes are well conveyed and constantly increasing. In ‘Last Breath’, by comparison, there’s not a lot of obvious problem solving. Chris, stranded undersea, is a very passive protagonist, for the simple reason that there’s not much for him to do except wait and hope for the best. As for the rescuers, it’s clear what they have to do — turn the ship around, get back to the dive site, dive down to retrieve Chris — and yet the individual actions don’t have the dramatic weight for the simple reason that I don’t understand the value. The Captain and First Mate start to manually control the ship, which we’re told is risky, but I can’t say for sure why they’re doing it, or what rolling certain handles actually means. At one point another member of the crew unplugs something and plugs it back in. Again, we’re told that this is risky and bold, but as I watch it I’m slightly perplexed by how all of these actions work together.

Under the sea, the cinematography has some striking moments: a light coming from the divers alone in the vast darkness of the water emphasizes how desolate their missions are. And yet this is a double edged sword, as the dark cloudiness of the undersea scenes is striking and realistic, but this very cloudiness renders much of the action incoherent. I see people doing things, people moving, but I’m not always sure to what end.

The characters are thinly written and the performances are mostly fine, though Simu Liu feels miscast as Dave. In his best roles, Liu leans into some comedy, playing up a strong character who is unsure of himself. Yet this role is more stoic, and should have a gravitas that prompts his peers to all look to him for his expertise, but it doesn’t quite land with Liu’s performance.

There are some strengths to this film, including its insight into the world of saturation divers. Much of the day to day work that goes into diving to the bottom of the sea is unknown to me, and it’s interesting to watch these people prepare for such a risky mission. Having directed the original documentary as well as this narrative feature, it’s clear Alex Parkinson is interested in this niche world and it comes through in his attention to detail.

Unfortunately though, there just isn’t much here to justify even its light 93 minute running time. For as dramatic as the rescue is, not much actually happens on either side of it. ‘Last Breath’ is ultimately a 30 minute drama with 60 minutes of padding. If you hear the synopsis and think it sounds like an interesting story, perhaps you should skip this movie and just watch the documentary instead.

Last Breath
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
Running Time: 1 hour and 33 minutes

Director Alex Parkinson
Writers Mitchell LaFortune, Alex Parkinson, David Brooks
Stars Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis
Rating PG-13
Running Time 93 Minutes
Genres Drama, Thriller