Encroaching fire, or picturing a shark circling an unsuspecting swimmer, is all it takes to trigger panic in nearly everyone. Last Breath evokes that response before the main story even unfolds. In fact, when the film reveals a key plot point early on, I immediately thought, “Well, that’s an unnecessary spoiler”. Boy, was I wrong.
There’s a famous interview with Alfred Hitchcock explaining how best to set an audience on edge. Instead of revealing that there’s a bomb under a table moments before it explodes, he suggests telling the audience well in advance. From that point forward, every moment is filled with tension, knowing there’s a ticking time bomb in play. That is exactly the setup here.
The story is a docudrama based on real events that took place off the coast of Scotland in 2012. A deep-dive team is busy repairing an undersea structure when a catastrophic accident leaves one of the divers stranded on the ocean floor. The diver—Chris Lemons (Finn Cole)—finds himself not only surrounded by complete darkness but also facing the grim reality that he has only about 20 minutes of breathable air. If that doesn’t get your heart pounding, I doubt much else can.
Director Alex Parkinson knows the material well, having previously helmed a 2019 documentary of the same name. What’s most impressive is that the story itself is relatively simple—93 minutes of watching a team fight to rescue their doomed diver. Most of the film focuses on just three main characters, yet the few subplots woven in are short, sweet, and perfectly absorbing.
Woody Harrelson plays the seasoned leader of the team, reluctantly facing retirement after this final assignment. Simu Liu portrays a by-the-book, take-no-chances diver, a stark contrast to Harrelson’s character. Liu has been everywhere lately, from playing one of the Kens in Barbie to leading Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and starring as Jung in the hilarious sitcom Kim’s Convenience. He’s got superstar written all over him. And, of course, there’s Finn Cole’s Chris, the stranded diver at the heart of it all.
I can say with complete confidence that this is not a film for anyone with claustrophobia. Its confining tendrils creep into nearly every scene, pulling you deeper into its suffocating grip. By the time the film finally surfaces and I could collect my thoughts (and my stomach) in the safety of the theater lobby, I realized one thing—I’ll be avoiding even the smallest puddles for the foreseeable future, let alone any large body of water.
