LAST BREATH
(director/writer: Alex Parkinson; screenwriters: Mitchell LaFortune, David Brooks; cinematographer: Nick Remy Matthews; editor: Tania Goding; music: Paul Leonard-Morgan; cast: Woody Harrelson (Duncan Allock), Simu Liu (Dave Yuasa), Finn Cole (Chris Lemons), Cliff Curtis (Captain Andre Jensons), Bobby Rainsbury (Morag), Mark Bonner (Craig), Myanna Buring (Hanna, First Officer); Runtime: 93; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Paul Brooks, David Brooks, Norman Golightly, Al Morrow, Hal Sadoff, Paul Parker, Jeremy Plager, Anna Mohr-Pietsch, Stewart Le Marechal; Dark Castle Entertainment/Focus Features; 2025-USA/UK)
“Left me breathless.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A riveting survival thriller directed by Alex Parkinson (“Living With Leopards”), whose underwater filming sequences left me breathless. It’s co-written by Parkinson, Mitchell LaFortune, and David Brooks. It’s a feature film remake of the 2019 documentary directed by Parkinson and Richard da Costa. It covers the true story in 2012 of saturation diver Chris Lemons, who was working on repairing a pipeline on the ocean bottom of the North Sea (in depths of more than 1,000ft) when his air-line support cord was severed because of a powerful storm. He was rescued 30 minutes later after he ran out of air to breath, and was without a pulse, in a vegetative state, until one day he suddenly, as if by a miracle, spoke.
This film is a dramatized version of Chris’s survival story–a follow-up to the documentary. It’s a great technical feat in filming, but its melodrama story is cheesy and filled with facile dialogue.
The pipeline repairman in question is the 20-something green new recruit, Scottish diver Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), who is engaged to the attractive Morag (Bobby Rainsbury). She is frightened her man might not return from his dangerous job and wishes he had a safer one even if this is his dream job. Chris is teamed with the stoical, no nonsense, highly competent American Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu), called The Vulcan, and with his mentor, the easygoing team leader, another American, the 20-year veteran Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson). Duncan, being forced to retire because of his age, is located at a different spot from the others at an underwater control hub known as the “bell.”
The gist of the film veers back and forth between diver, bell and ship. Much of the action unfortunately is difficult to see on the pitch black screen and the characters are not easily recognizable in their heavy gear. But the visuals are incredibly realistic (would have benefited more with IMAX cameras) and the three performers do a really good job making things believable. The Last Breath is an effective, suspenseful and competently made film. If this is your kind of genre, it’s a don’t miss film despite some dramatic lapses.
REVIEWED ON 3/1/2025 GRADE: B
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