Last Breath (dir. Alex Parkinson)
By: Adam Freed
Hundreds of feet beneath the churning surface of Scotland’s North Sea, thousands of feet of pipe runs enough petroleum to the United Kingdom to light the northern half of the island. The inherent problem though with sinking pipes 500 feet below sea level is that a team of highly skilled deep sea divers are forced to repair and maintain this tubing in the turbulent 34 degree water. The true story of one of the world’s most dangerous jobs is captured within director Alex Parkinson’s Last Breath, an underwater thriller starring Woody Harrelson (True Detective, Zombieland), Simu Liu (Barbie), and Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders). Part aquatic exploratory mission, and part syrupy rescue adventure, Last Breath undervalues the strength of its hand, which results in a failure to reach the promise of its anxiety producing premise.
Set against the industrialized shores of Aberdeen, Scotland, recently engaged deep sea diver Chris Lemons (Cole), makes an all too daunting promise to his doting bride-to-be that he will return home from his latest mission hundreds of feets beneath the surface of the sea. Chris’ relationship with his fiancee Mourag, although tender, drips of exposition and a desperate need to provide a plausible reason to invest in his survival, beyond the inherent predilection to root for humanity. Mourag is played convincingly by Bobby Rainsbury (The Crown) but their rather static relationship is force fed for the purpose of raising the dramatic stakes in a film that due to its natural tension, didn’t require artificiality in this regard. Rather than squeeze every ounce of dramatic tension out of the film's naturally compelling survivalist conflict, Last Breath drifts into the turbulent waters of disbelief.
What redeems a rather oxygen deprived plot is the truly inspired underwater cinematography captured by Nick Remy Matthews. The icy sea has never felt more perilous than as captured by Matthews and his team of aquatic camera operators. What adds to the visual intrigue of everything Last Breath accomplishes beneath the surface is that the natural murky darkness isn’t made beautiful, but is captured in its haunting reality. Just as darkness has long added tension to film, as does the diminishing light at dangerous aquatic depths. Ironically though, for a film rooted in escape, Last Breath cannot swim free of the faux dramatic speeches, and canned anxiety that it interstitially leans upon to propel its story forward. Adding to the duality of the production is a palpable imbalance of narrative pacing. This imbalance manifests itself by presenting a conflict resolution far too early, forcing its third act to overstay its welcome by no less than 15 minutes. In a film that features some genuine thrills, it is disappointing that one’s final experiences with Last Breath suffer from anticlimax.
Target Score 5/10 Despite an anxiety-ridden premise and gorgeous underwater cinematography, Alex Parkinson’s Last Breath finds a way to turn an unbelievable true story into a ho hum rescue adventure weighed down by synthetically manufactured drama.