LAST BREATH: An All Killer, No Filler Deep-Sea Docudrama

Superheroes have long been role models for modern society, an aspiration to better ideals of resilience, bravery and looking out for your fellow man. In comic books, superheroes often wear brightly-colored spandex. But in real life, superheroes come in many shapes and sizes. A single mom looking out for her kids, an EMT working overtime to save a life, even a restaurant owner offering free food to the homeless.

So why is it, that when Hollywood casts its lens on showcasing the real heroes in day-to-day life, it often feels fake? Perhaps we’re so used to humanity’s selfishness that true heroism feels unrealistic. Maybe the epic scale needed for a movie doesn’t translate well to ordinary life. Maybe Hollywood just sucks at writing people that aren’t square-jawed and blue-eyed.

Documentary director Alex Parkinson showcased a real-life hero in his 2019 documentary Last Breath, about a group of deep-sea divers rescuing their stranded teammate. 6 years later, Parkinson tried to crack the code for a scripted adaptation, adapting his own doc with an A-list cast & budget to match.

Did Last Breath do right by its subject matter, or fall into becoming flanderized shlock? Let’s review:

Down Where It’s Better, Down Where It’s Wetter

Chipper Chris (Finn Cole), aging vet Duncan (Woody Harrelson), and stone-faced ace David (Simu Liu) are deep-sea saturation divers who repair undersea gas lines. Preparing for their next assignment, the three men work alongside their ship’s Captain Andre (Cliff Curtis) and crewman Craig (Mark Bonnar).

Once anchored and ascending, Chris and David drop to the deep sea-floor. However, the ship’s anchor malfunctions, causing the two to be dragged off the gas line structure. Chris’ line snaps, leaving him stranded with little air and no way to communicate with the ship.

The team regroups and frantically tries to rescue Chris, who falls unconscious but is still alive. While the crew at sea level work around the ship’s malfunctions, Duncan and David brave the odds to return to sea-level and rescue Chris.

Following a failed attempt, David successfully retrieves Chris’ body. Oxygen-starved for over 30 minutes, Chris appears dead but somehow miraculously survives to Duncan’s elation. The crew returns to port, as David and Chris share a quiet sentimental moment before Chris reunites with his fiancee.

In an epilogue, the three return and finish their job successfully. Experts are befuddled as to how Chris survived.

All Killer, No Filler

Last Breath is a quietly gripping thriller that thrives in its all-killer, no-filler approach. Director Parkinson’s slavish devotion to the original documentary is evident in his cinematic eye, forcing the camera into unorthodox corners to sell the cramped space and darkness of the deep-sea floor, contrasted with larger sweeping vistas when above-shore.

The craftsmanship of the film is top-notch, with spectacular miniature work and murky cinematography used to portray the film’s deep-sea structures and the ship’s inner workings. The story trims much of the exposition provided in the original doc, but still makes the insider lingo and procedure feel naturalistic and attainable to audiences (I’m a city boy working a white-collar job, and I was never lost).

The film does away with many tropes of survival thrillers. Often, those not directly connected to the MacGuffin (in this case, the stranded diver) will serve as situational antagonists, advocating for abandoning mission due to resources. Last Breath addresses this concern, but instead appeals to the humanity of the characters and lets everyone get onboard with the mission fairly quickly. Even failed attempts at rescue are limited, used to establish a plot point then are swiftly moved on. It’s quick, it’s underplayed, but it does wonders in establishing the tone for the film. It’s humanity vs nature, not humanity vs itself. Little touches like this lend the film an earthiness and heart, helping it stand apart from the manufactured conflict of bigger Hollywood rescue epics.

Tonally, despite its commitment to underplaying big moments, the film succeeds in slowly ratcheting up the tension. With minimal score and exposition, the film nails the inherent danger of the job, and when chaos strikes out-of-nowhere it jolts the audience into focus extremely effectively. The film’s closing sequence milks the rescue for every moment, letting audiences feel David’s force of will despite no showy maneuvering or plot points. It’s minimalistic filmmaking done very well

Reality Is Often Disappointing

However, the film’s main hurdle lies in its stylistic struggle between docudrama and epic. Parkinson’s visual eye skews heavily towards his documentary roots, but often the writing and actor’s performances have a touch of showiness that leads to some awkwardly assembled moments. The trio of lead performances are sensational, particularly Finn Cole as Chris, whose sheepish geniality sells the character as the film’s beating heart despite limited screentime. With Chris unconscious for the film’s latter half, Cole’s good-natured acting style keeps the audience invested in his journey.

Co-stars Harrelson and Liu hold their own as a wily veteran and stone-faced ace, but the writing’s limited style often doesn’t give them the tools to succeed. Harrelson’s emotional crux provides the film’s heart in the third act, and a quiet moment of him contemplating retirement is among the film’s best. But, the film often isn’t content to simply let Harrelson monologue, cutting around his ruminations with an unnecessary flashback to a dive site (the only time the film breaks real-time, in a jarringly distracting moment).

Liu, meanwhile, tries his best to command the screen, but isn’t allowed the space to fully break down and as such his more human moments come across as stiff and robotic. A scene of Liu’s David revealing a family photo feels trite and over-the-top, despite Liu’s valiant effort in digging into his one-dimensional character’s nuances.

Alongside a few wonky editing choices that don’t allow scenes to breathe, it feels like the film doesn’t allow audiences the breathing room to understand the characters, in an effort to maintain realism. I understand that extensive backstories would clash with the style, but even an extra 10 minutes of character beats before the mission’s commencement would have done wonders in ingratiating the film’s sense of place with the audience.

This is especially apparent in the closing text stating experts have no idea how Chris survived. With not enough lead-up selling the danger of the mission, the sheer implausibility was lost on me. I was dropped right into the world, and as such I had no idea I was watching anything beyond a standard routine rescue until the film’s closing moments.

Conclusion

Last Breath is a movie that strips away all the Hollywood fluff, but turns in a delightfully-tense docudrama-thriller that will leave audience clenching for 93 minutes straight. Perhaps it doesn’t fully take advantage of the tools at its disposal, with it’s A-list talent getting tamped down by the stoicism of the film’s tone. But it makes up for it with sheer uniqueness, the marked departure from Hollywood’s attempts to liven up “real-life mundanity” with a sprinkle of larger-than-life manufactured conflict.

Turns out all you really need to execute a decently tense survival thriller is a real-life tale of heroism, 93 minutes, a good budget, and enough respect for your audience to present the story as it originally happened.

Is there a more epic version of this movie out there? One that better sells the superhuman odds of a man surviving 30+ minutes with no oxygen, or the sheer implausibility of a rescue attempt happening during a huge storm? Probably. But as is, Last Breath remains a great way to spend a night at the movies. You’ll probably need a cigarette to relax afterwards, though.

Last Breath is now playing in theatres nationwide.