‘Last Breath’ is a Riveting Disaster Drama
The new thriller "Last Breath" generates gripping suspense in its depiction of a terrifying underwater rescue.
One storm-tossed ship, three intrepid divers, and the deep blue sea are practically the whole show in Last Breath, a spare but riveting disaster drama about the frantic effort to rescue a diver stranded at the bottom of the North Sea.
Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Peaky Blinders breakout Finn Cole are saturation divers Duncan, Dave, and Chris, tasked with repairing trans-ocean oil pipelines on the sea floor. Along with several other three-man crews, they work off of the dive support vessel Tharos, which, on this mission, has to sail into a storm.
The ship’s captain Jenson, portrayed with steely resolve and just a hint of nerves by Cliff Curtis, is fairly new to this operation, where just about everyone else on board has history. Self-described relic Duncan, a 20-year vet on his last dive, has been a mentor to bright-eyed Chris, who’s being called into this dangerous deep-sea operation for the first time.
Coolly filling out this trio of adventure movie archetypes, Liu’s Dave is no one’s mentor. He’s the consummate pro, adept at every aspect of the job — one of the most hazardous on Earth, we’re told by an opening title card — and he’s known for keeping to himself.
So, of course, we’ll see him gradually warm up to young greenhorn Chris with brotherly love and hard-earned respect as they tackle this pipeline, right? Not exactly.
While the script, by director Alex Parkinson, Mitchell LaFortune, and David Brooks, doesn’t tax itself with much originality, the characters and relationships resound with dimension. Duncan is very much the “I’m getting too old for this shit” wizened vet, but Harrelson also gives the guy a noticeable pep in his step, like maybe Duncan isn’t really ready to give up the danger.
Chris has a fiancé, Morag (Bobby Rainsbury, quite good), anxiously waiting for him back in Aberdeen. The couple stays connected via messages and videos throughout the film, as she plays emotional anchor to his story — which, we know, is careening like that ship towards disaster.
When disaster strikes, the film takes off, propelled by claustrophobic suspense, and an onscreen oxygen countdown that appears to spell doom. The sequences setting up disaster are also tightly constructed by Parkinson, whose experience as a cinematographer and editor shows in his work here with cinematographer Nick Remy Matthews.
The film’s brief but effective shots of the ship Tharos being whipped by 30-foot swells, or the divers leaping off their diving bell into the imposing darkness of the deep sea, vividly convey the brutal physical conditions these divers and their support crew face. And the existential terror of floating untethered into marine oblivion is heart-pounding.
Parkinson co-directed the 2019 documentary Last Breath, a non-fiction account of this harrowing real-life ordeal, and the filmmakers’ admiration for these brave professionals registers clearly. The attention to the technical details onboard the ship, and under the surface, are well-informed and realized, and viewers might feel as though they’ve taken a trip 20,000 leagues beneath the sea.
The attention to the dialogue is less convincing, but our main trio, often outfitted like the Michelin Man in bulky diving equipment, command the screen not with the hokey lines but with their faces, with gravitas, and the unbearable but thrilling tension of watching our heroes push their oxygen-deprived bodies to the absolute limits.
Last Breath (★★★☆☆) is rated PG-13, and playing in theaters nationwide. Visit www.fandango.com.
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.