Maintaining tension for a full 90-minute runtime is a very challenging task. “Last Breath” manages to pull it off; however, it fails to do much else.
The story follows a pair of deep-sea divers named Duncan and Dave, played by Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu, who must save crewmate Chris, played by Finn Cole, trapped hundreds of feet below the surface. The film is based on a true story that took place in 2012 in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.
Knowing that this is a true story does add a realness to the viewing experience. Some of that anticipation unfortunately loses its edge, since this kind of rescue mission story likely wouldn’t have been adapted into a film if the rescue weren’t successful.
That’s not to say that the film struggles with tension, because that is easily the best part. So much of the story is dedicated to stressful moments that it makes 90 minutes feel like a half hour. The main contributor to that emotion is the director, Alex Parkinson.
This isn’t the first time that Parkinson has depicted this story, as he also directed a critically acclaimed documentary of the same name in 2019. His heightened understanding of not only what happened, but also the emotions surrounding it, allows him to create an airtight and efficient screenplay.
Parkinson creates tension by using the darkness of the deep sea, as well as capturing the feeling of isolation through phenomenal sound design and cinematography, elements that generate a helpless feeling for the viewer.
This tone is reinforced by strong performances from Harrelson, Liu and Cole. All of them heighten the film in their own way, especially Harrelson. His sarcasm in the first half of the film, followed by frantic emotion in the second, is one of the movie’s best aspects.
Another factor creating the tension has mixed success: Essentially every side character in the film is only there to put their hands over their mouth and let out sighs and gasps. This does contribute to the overall tone of the movie, but it makes these characters feel one-dimensional and dull.
The feeling of dullness isn’t limited to the side characters, however, as a blandness permeates the film as a whole. Once that tension wears off as the credits roll, it becomes apparent that “Last Breath” doesn’t do much for audiences to remember it.
It’s difficult for filmmakers to decide when to stay faithful or stray away from the truth when adapting a true story, but this story is a case where the actual events aren’t strong enough to support an entire film.
The movie is committed to telling the story in real time to how it actually happened, which is a dedicated but wrong decision. Chris was trapped at the bottom of the ocean for 40 minutes, meaning that an entire 40 minutes of the film is spent deciding how to save him. Although the tension never wavers, only about 10 of those minutes feel like necessary events to the story.
Overall, “Last Breath” is certainly not a bad film. It does a great job at creating tension, and Harrelson gives a performance that elevates every scene he’s a part of. However, it does not do nearly enough to justify a whole 90 minutes for this story and fails to establish any sort of identity or uniqueness.
