Last Breath (United States, 2025)

Last Breath has epic potential but opts instead to present its gritty survival story with as little fat as possible – so little, in fact, that it cuts too close to the bone at times. Based on a true story, it tracks its documentary source material (which was co-directed by this feature’s director, Alex Parkinson) with precision, an approach that disallows the kind of expansion (and, yes, fictionalization) that would make for a stronger story. The movie is in need of a better excavated background and more fully realized characters. One wonders what the motivation was for making a feature movie out of something that was already adequately explored in the documentary.

The film starts with a brief introduction to three main characters, a trio of saturation divers about to embark on a 28-day mission to do undersea repairs at a depth of 330 feet. They are veteran Duncan Allock (Woody Harrelson), taciturn Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu), and relative neophyte Chris Lemons (Finn Cole). The setup is perfunctory, providing glimpses of the interaction among the principles and allowing for some banter between Duncan and the dive supervisor, Craig (Mark Bonnar).  Then it’s down into the depths. While the divers are beginning their work, the ship to which they are tethered loses its propulsion system in a storm and begins to drift. This creates an emergency situation for the divers. Chris’ umbilical cord becomes entangled before being severed. He is then cut off with no communications, no heating system in his suit, and only 10 minutes of oxygen in a spare tank. Rescue operations, headed up by Duncan and Dave, cannot begin until the cause of the ship’s failure can be identified and fixed.

There’s nothing about Last Breath that cries “must see.” The production is workmanlike (with some solid underwater photography, credited to first unit director Ian Seabrook) but it feels more like a good made-for-TV (or made-for-streaming) production than an immersive big-screen experience. Although keeping the running time to a skinny 93 minutes avoids slow patches, it also doesn’t allow the characters to develop. They remain two-dimensional throughout. The only concession the movie makes to fleshing anyone out is giving Chris a fiancée (Bobby Rainsbury) and showing his trailer home in Scotland. Although this approach is arguably better than larding the movie up with soap opera material, one would think there’s a better balance somewhere. The rescue scenes are handled well but could have been more suspenseful had the buildup been expertly executed. One wonders what James Cameron might have done with a similar premise. (The Abyss offers hints.)

Woody Harrelson’s involvement is likely what got the movie greenlighted. He’s given first billing but his character does little more than sit around in the diving bell, looking concerned and occasionally offering folksy advice. Simu Liu has a little more to do – he’s the one who does all the leg-work on the rescue and gets the film’s lone beefcake moment – but the character is as underwritten as he is inscrutable (he is briefly referred to as “Spock”). Finn Cole gets less time than one might expect for the individual at the center of the action. And a lot of the people on the ocean-top ship are given “moments,” but none resonate. Cliff Curtis, playing the ship’s captain, does a fair amount of squinting and nodding.

The movie’s no-frills approach allows for occasional bursts of tension but those are neither as sustained nor as white-knuckle as the should be. Watching Last Breath, I was reminded of Touching the Void, another survival story that merged documentary elements with feature footage. This movie doesn’t approach the same level of engagement and suspense. Although I was suitably diverted by Last Breath, I couldn’t help but feel there was a missed opportunity to tell a more riveting story that, for whatever reason, the filmmakers chose not to pursue.

Last Breath (United States, 2025)