I have to say, after Last Breath finished, I sighed a sigh in relief as that was one of the most tense experiences I’ve ever had in the movie theater. The story is based on the 2019 documentary of the same name, about an event where a deep sea diver is stuck 100 meters under the sea after his umbilical cable is cut. He only has a limited amount of breathing gas left as the rest of his team and the ship rush to save him in a dangerous storm.
From the moment you see Finn Cole, who plays Chris Lemons, you know he’s the main focus of this story. He’s wide-eyed and looks like he has the world in front of him. I didn’t know anything about this story before it, so I didn’t have any foreboding when seeing him, but I should have. I’ve liked Cole ever since I saw him in the TNT drama series Animal Kingdom, so I welcomed to see him as this fresh-faced young member of this diving crew with one of my favs, Woody Harrelson, as Duncan Allcock and the woefully underused by Hollywood Simu Liu as David Yuasa. This is our main crew who’s the focus is on while you also get to see Mark Bonnar as Craig, the guy in charge of the divers working with the ship’s Captain Andre Jenson (Cliff Curtis) to get the ship in a place so they can save Chris after things go bad during the storm.
While short in runtime, this film gets its claws in you fast and feels like it’s told in real time, at least for a large section of the middle of the film. The dynamic between Harrelson, Liu, and Cole feels real, with Harrelson’s wise old-timer schtick mixing well with Liu’s ace diver stoic characterization. Both have a very easy-to-understand dynamic with Cole’s Lemons. Yet once Lemons is in danger, the tension ramps up constantly minute after minute as you worry about Lemons’ survival. They even put a clock on the screen a few times to highlight just how much in danger he is. That could sound like it could be tacky, but it’s handled in a way that brings it closer to how a documentary would present it. As I stated, I didn’t know the earlier film, so I didn’t know the story, but I do think if a person is familiar with it, they’d still be captivated.
The underwater filmmaking is good and captures how dire things can be with being stuck down in the dark depths of the ocean. The film’s score is the real MVP of this film outside of the actors, which is how the score builds and controls your emotional involvement in the film. His danger, the stakes at hand, and the worry of everyone is heard through the music, just like you see it on screen through the performances. I’m noting this because it’s rare, at least for me, to see a film that just works in a way that feels like how movies used to be. Last Breath takes tried and true filmmaking methods and solid performances to tell an amazing story in a terrific film worth checking out.
Score: B+
