Review: ‘Last Breath’ dives in and doesn’t come up for air
‘Last Breath’ is the fast-paced depiction of one diver’s harrowing ordeal on the sea floor when he’s cut-off from his crew.
People do dangerous things, sometimes for sport, sometimes for money, but usually because they enjoy it. Whether it’s the thrill of the challenge or the satisfaction of knowing you can do something that most couldn’t, the people who engage in these pursuits understand the risks and choose to accept them. Yet, in spite of the most careful preparations, bad things can happen. However, even the worst accidents may not convince someone to quit or prevent people from taking up the activity. Consequently, in Last Breath, a group of men with hazardous jobs must face the unthinkable when everything goes wrong.
Chris (Finn Cole) is a bit newer to the sat diving crew when compared to veterans Duncan (Woody Harrelson) and Dave (Simu Liu), who’s earned the nickname “Vulcan” due to his level-headed approach to the job. They all work for a company tasked with maintaining and repairing underwater pipelines. While on the water, homebase is a large ship that stays in place above the divers, who are lowered into the depths via a smaller egg-shaped vessel from which they dive to the sea floor and work on the equipment. However, when unimaginable circumstances push the ship off course, the divers face life or death decisions hundreds of metres below the surface.
Saturation diving is the act of venturing to the deepest depths of the ocean or sea after several hours or days of priming in a pressurized saturation chamber to prepare their bodies to function so far below the surface. When their work is complete, they must decompress for multiple days before re-emerging into the world or the consequences range from illness to death. But this is only one of the many hazards that may threaten a sat diver’s survival. The picture is based on a true story that director Alex Parkinson also recounted in his 2019 documentary of the same name. Those who watch both films will notice several scenes that are fictionalized for dramatic effect, though the core of the story remains the same: one of the divers becomes stranded on the seabed with a limited air supply.
The cast appears well-matched to the personalities of their real-life counterparts and a lot of the details revealed in their interviews are incorporated dramatically throughout the movie, such as Dave’s nickname and the responsibility the dive supervisor felt for the imperilled crew. However, there is not a lot of character development or explanation of many of the processes involved in the intricate operation. In fact, the film omits a key aspect of the divers’ preparation that includes breathing in helium the entire time they’re pressurized — probably because watching a movie in which half the cast sounds like The Chipmunks the whole time would undercut the situation’s seriousness. Consequently, at 93 minutes, the film feels short, even though there is quite a bit of tension and action.
The underwater setting is very similar to watching a high-stakes narrative set in space. In fact, Chris describes it as such to his fiancée before heading offshore. The divers are like astronauts, operating beyond the reach of any practical rescue, and the ship’s crew are akin to NASA, monitoring the mission and trying to correct any catastrophes from a distance. Interestingly, the seabed is actually darker than space since it’s devoid of any natural light, making the whole assignment seem more ominous.
While it’s rare to want a movie to be longer, it seems as if this story could’ve benefited from a little more development around the key personalities and the job, so there is a stronger connection with the audience. Instead, it relies on the ticking clock to keep viewers engaged, which is rousing, but not as satisfying.
Director: Alex Parkinson
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole
