Whether it’s the shark-infested waters of Jaws or the isolation of All Is Lost, the sea has often been one of cinema’s great obstacles. A theatrical remake of a documentary, Last Breath takes audiences beneath the waves to a new level of claustrophobia.
The film follows three deep sea divers who work to maintain undersea gas lines in the North Sea. Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), a rookie diver, joins veterans Duncan (Woody Harrelson) and Dave (Simu Liu) for a repair mission. The routine job is thrown into chaos when an accident occurs, untethering Chris sending him hundreds of feet down with only ten minutes of oxygen, leaving Duncan and Dave scrambling to save him.
Sticking closely to its documentary roots, the film allows the facts of the situation to speak for themselves. The desolate nature of their work, where even a successful mission is fraught with dangers, is illustrated through raw footage and nerve-shattering statistics, such as monitoring how many minutes of Oxygen Chris has left, then how many minutes he has been without air. To director Alex Parkinson’s credit, there isn’t a lot of Hollywood embellishment here, showcasing the matter-of-fact decision making that the men have to undertake in an incredibly short amount of time.
Despite a script that keeps things straightforward, Harrelson and Liu in particular work a lot of humanity into their roles. Harrelson’s character isn’t exactly a stretch for him, playing an easy-going old-timer, but he makes an interesting contrast with Marvel star Liu’s super-serious perfectionist, who doesn’t have time for pleasantries as his reputation for efficiency precedes him.
Gripping from beginning to end, it’s a tribute to Last Breath’s effectiveness that despite a short running time and simple plot, the stakes are conveyed so well that you may be holding your own breath through sheer tension.