‘Last Breath’ Goes Underwater for a Riveting True Story of a Marooned Deep Diver 

Alci Rengifo

Some experiences are so harrowing, they need little embellishment when translated to drama. “Last Breath” recounts a 2012 deep-sea diving incident in the North Sea relying primarily on the basic details. It taps into the primal fear of being marooned in some hostile environment, alone and with little chance of getting out. Director Alex Parkinson told the story already in a brisk and gripping British documentary of the same name released in 2019. One project does not cancel out the other, with this new dramatization expanding on the human qualities of the story. If the documentary was a suspenseful work of journalism, as a movie we get to absorb new visual dimensions to understand what took place.

“Last Breath” opens with one of those fascinating title cards informing us that there are about 20,000 feet of pipeline running across the ocean floor, which require maintenance by deep-sea diver teams. Off the coast of Scotland Chris Lemons (Finn Cole) is gearing up for his first expedition after working for years as a deckhand. He belongs to a team that includes diving veteran Duncan Allock (Woody Harrelson), the stone-cold serious Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu) and dive supervisor Craig (Mark Bonnar). For Chris, it’s just the career boost he needs since he’s about to get married to Morag (Bobby Rainsbury). The mission is to do work in an underwater structure. All seems well when Chris and Dave begin the dive, then the ship encounters a computer error that makes it drift during a lashing storm. When the drifting vessel pulls away at the men’s essential “umbilical” cords that provide heat, air and communication, Dave makes it out but Chris’ chord snaps and he’s left trapped in the freezing depths. There are only minutes of oxygen left in his backup tanks.

Parkinson and writers Mitchell LaFortune and David Brooks don’t ever overcomplicate the narrative. They stick to the basics of the event. Like Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” or “127 Hours,” the suspense is generated by the grounded nature of Chris’ plight. He finds himself in one of those strokes of bad luck, when events combine terribly to put a life in jeopardy. The build-up to the main incident sets up enough of the divers’ world to give us a sense of the people involved and the environment they work in. The original documentary did an even brisker job of introducing everyone, so written for drama, they take on more personality. A genuine sense of camaraderie is established with Duncan as the veteran who misses the wilder old days, Dave as the humorless diver who would rather lift weights than do small talk and Craig being the one keeping order. Cliff Curtis and MyAnna Buring are the ship’s captain and first officer, given just enough screen time to be convincing participants trying desperately to later on save Chris.

There is little time for this story to get too chatty, its strength being the haunting images of Chris floating away into an abyss where the temperature is just a degree or two above zero. Parkinson combines a few real, riveting images from the actual dive that were also featured in the documentary. Scenes verge on science fiction when the divers wander the ocean floor or struggle to get back to the surface with no light. Chris accurately describes his job to Morag as going into space, except it happens to be underwater. Such details are expertly woven into the story so we’re taking in information as we’re watching, including the other details the importance of the umbilical cords or what Chris must do once he is trapped below. 

Like a ticking clock, “Last Breath” then becomes all about how to save the stranded diver through a rush of events. Chris’ colleagues are left racing against the clock with Parkinson cutting back precisely to a countdown letting us know how much oxygen the diver has left. The challenges being faced amount to figuring out how to get the ship’s computers to work and Dave’s dive back into the sea to find Chris. This film is an example of a taut thriller constructed with excellent pacing. Tania Goding’s editing doesn’t let you feel the 1 hour and 33 minutes and Paul Leonard-Morgan gives the images adequate intensity. The cinematography by Nick Remy Matthews has scope while nothing feels false. These days it’s hard to tell where CGI is involved, yet “Last Breath” always feels real. It is easy to invest in the plot because the stakes feel all too human. 

“Last Breath” releases Feb. 28 in theaters nationwide.