Alex Parkinson, Bobby Rainsbury, Cliff Curtis, drama, Finn Cole, Last Breath, Mark Bonnar, movies, reviews, Simu Liu, Woody Harrelson
February 27, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Alex Parkinson
Culture Representation: Taking place in Scotland, the dramatic film “Last Breath” (based on the 2019 documentary of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one Asian person) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A saturation diving job in the North Sea goes horribly wrong when one of the divers is trapped underwater with only nine minutes of oxygen left in his oxygen tank.
Culture Audience: “Last Breath” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dramatic films about against-all-odds rescue missions.
“Last Breath” gets the job done competently in telling the true story of rescuing a saturation diver trapped underwater in the North Sea. There’s nothing groundbreaking about this drama, but it has enough to keep viewers interested. Even though the outcome is very predictable, “The Last Breath” manages to build a certain level of suspense that is admirable, thanks to adept filmmaking and credible performances.
Directed by Alex Parkinson, “Last Breath” was co-written by Parkinson, Mitchell LaFortune and David Brooks. The movie is based on the 2019 documentary “Last Breath,” directed by Parkinson and Richard da Costa. In real life, the participants in this rescue mission were British. In the dramatic movie version of “Last Breath,” two out of the three main diver characters are American, while the other is British, specifically from Scotland.
The “Last Breath” dramatic movie doesn’t specify the year that the story take place. In real life, the deep-sea diving accident took place in 2012. The dramatic film begins in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by showing a man in his 20s named Chris Lemons (played by Finn Cole) cuddling with his fiancée Morag (played by Bobby Rainsbury) in their home. (“The Last Breath” was actually filmed in Malta.)
Chris excitedly tells Morag that he’s been selected to be part of a saturation diving team working in the North Sea. It’s a job that Chris has wanted for quite some time, and he went through training for it. Morag is worried about the Chris’ safety for this risky job, which requires divers to maintain underwater pipelines. A caption in the beginning of the movie says that saturation divers have to go to up to 1,000 feet below sea level to do this work. “It’s one of the most dangerous jobs on Earth,” the caption adds.
Chris tries to reassure Morag by telling her: “It’s like going to space, but underwater.” It doesn’t make Morag feel any less uneasy, but she doesn’t want to discourage Chris from doing his dream job. Chris is required to be on the diving ship for 28 days for this particular maintenance job.
“Last Breath” keeps the storyline uncomplicated by focusing on less than 10 people in the story, including Chris and Morag. Chris is assigned to Team A, which includes experienced team leader Duncan Allcock (played by Woody Harrelson) and Dave Yuasa (played by Simu Liu), who are both American. The captain of the ship is Andre Jenson (played by Cliff Curtis), who has a no-nonsense personality in the brief time that he’s shown on screen. The diving supervisor in the control room is Craig (played by Mark Bonnar), an affable Brit.
Most people who see “Last Breath” will already know that it’s a story about a deep-sea rescue. It takes a while (about 30 minutes into this 93-minute movie) before the fateful accident happens: Chris’ umbilical cable gets severed. He’s trapped about 300 feet under the sea without heat or light and with only about nine minutes’ worth of oxygen in his backup tank.
Before the rescue mission happens, “Last Breath” shows glimpses into the interpersonal dynamics of Chris, Duncan and Dave. Chris was a deck hand for three years and trained with Duncan to be a saturation diver. Duncan thinks highly of Chris, who is a little nervous but ready to do what he’s been trained to do.
Duncan is an easygoing leader who is happy to mentor Chris, even though this voyage will be Duncan’s last diving job. Duncan tells his teammates that he’s being forced to retire. Duncan doesn’t want to be promoted into a management position because he says, “I’m not management material.” Duncan comments it would also be too hard for him to be a manager because he would have to watch divers “have all the fun.”
Duncan is warm and welcoming to newcomer Chris. It’s in stark contrast to Dave, who has a personality and communication style that can best be described as cold, aloof and abrupt. The only thing that viewers are told about Dave is that he has a wife and children. Otherwise, Dave remains a mystery throughout the story, even though he plays a pivotal role in the rescue mission.
“Last Breath” has many aspects that are formulaic in how the story is told. However, the movie has compelling cinematography and does a good job of showing the behind-the-scenes teamwork involved in this type of rescue. Aside from the technical aspects of the rescue, the rescuers often have to make decisions on gut instinct. “Last Breath” is ultimately a feel-good story about persistence against seemingly impossible odds and how faith can sometimes be stronger than logic.
Focus Features will release “Last Breath” on February 28, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on February 24, 2025.