Soon-to-retire bellman Duncan Allcock (played by Woody Harrelson) is leading his last deep sea dive in order to fix a gas line more than 300 feet below the ocean’s surface. When a violent storm comes in, veteran saturation diver Dave (Simu Liu) and unseasoned saturation diver Chris (Finn Cole) run into trouble during their mission. The ship’s propulsion goes offline forcing the vessel to drift uncontrollably. While trying to retreat back to the bell, Chris gets his umbilical snagged and Dave realizes what’s about to happen. He promises to come back for him, knowing full well it’ll probably be on a recovery mission, not a rescue one. The entire crew in the ship’s bridge does what they can to recover Chris before they head out of the storm so they can return his body to his fiancee.
Based on a documentary of the same name, LAST BREATH is everything you could hope for in a February theatrical release. Director Alex Parkinson — who also directed the 2019 documentary — does a great job educating the audience who, let’s face it, won’t be well-versed in deep sea diving.
The opening sequence not only provides background on the true story but shows intense footage from the actual event almost an hour before that same event plays out on screen, a real ballsy move by Parkinson.
While solid performances that show range, Harrelson, Liu and Cole are all replaceable in this. Could the role of Allcock been played by JK Simmons, for example? Absolutely. Could the role of Chris been played by James McAvoy? Without a doubt. In other words, not one of those roles couldn’t have been played by someone with similar acting chops. There’s no John Malkovich in IN THE LINE OF FIRE or Bruce Willis in DIE HARD or Liam Neeson in TAKEN kind of irreplaceable casting here.
From the opening sequence to the closing titles, LAST BREATH will have you on the edge of your seat. There’s even a point where the audience tries to control their own breathing as if to will Chris to slow down his as he realizes his fate. When you go to the movies, you want to have an emotional response of some kind. LAST BREATH gives you that in spades.
JKG SCORE: 7.5
Untitled Film Project 