'Last Breath': Good to the final gasp
"Last Breath" directed by Alex Parkinson follows the true story of sea divers battling the elements of nature to save one of their own trapped in the bottom of the sea, with 48 hours of oxygen left to live.
This movie is a tense epic about the bonds you make while at work, and the lengths that you would go to save someone you care for.
I'll say that there isn't much about this movie that stands out. It's a realistic drama with few characters present in the film.
The plot of the films follows as Duncan Allcock leads the three-man crew, of himself, Dave Yuasa and Chris Lemons. When a brutal North Sea storm knocks out their ship’s positioning system, it begins to drift with while the divers are already positioned hundreds of feet below the surface.
Their captain, first officer and the bridge crew work above water to fix the problem and are forced to make some life altering choices. This turns what was a routine dive into a life-or-death situation as they fight to bring their divers home safely.
Woody Harrelson plays Duncan Alcock, a seasoned diver. Harrelson was the standout to me as he's one of my favorite actors and he always delivers a good performance no matter what movie.
Finn Cole plays Chris Lemons, the diver who gets stuck hundreds of feet below the sea, and his acting is decent but he didn't do anything to stand out.
Simu Liu also did a good job playing the competent David Yuasa, as he had a good script to play from. It was also nice to see Liu act because I haven't seen him in anything since "Barbie". There was a lot of great tense acting from him and goes to show how much we need another "Shang-Chi" movie.
I loved how this movie is filmed. It has a great claustrophobic feel and all the scenes underwater are dark and a bit spooky. Lemons can't see anything half the time, which builds up the suspension of what he could encounter.
At times the movie felt like "Alien," with the fear of the unknown and knowing the suit is a ticking time bomb that only has so much air left. This movie made my hands extremely clammy and put me in a cold sweat.
I will say, the movie feels a bit long because of the limited set pieces and some dialogue that can be hard to follow if you don't know anything about diving. You have to be in the right mood to see this movie, as I had a hard time focusing because this is a movie I don't typically like to see.
Overall, if you like gritty, intense dramas that are heavily character focused, this movie is for you. I'd give it a solid 7/10.
Carter Salley is Central Michigan Life's resident film reviewer and co-host of the popculture podcast "Raving Geeks." He is majoring in media arts.
