True stories are always hard to convert into feature films, and the latest release Last Breath faces the same struggles that other films have faced before it. It also faces the fact that the document the movie is based off of is better and causes the viewer to care more about the people we're following throughout the movie.
Last Breath follows Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson), and David Yuasa (Simu Liu) who are tasked with maintaining gas lines within the North Sea. During their expedition, Lemons' umbilical snaps, and he's immediately dragged to the ocean floor with a limited air supply and no natural light. At the same time, his crew is slowly being dragged away by a storm.
Even though Lemons is the character facing imminent danger, director Alex Parkinson struggles to help us care about the character while he's trapped at the ocean floor. We know he has a fiancé, but otherwise the character development is limited and makes it hard to fully invest in his well-being even if you already know how the story ends.
Unfortunately this trend continues with the rest of the characters including the ship's captain (Cliff Curtis), crew, and Liu. The only exception is Harrelson which is mostly attributed to his natural charisma rather than anything the director or writer's did. He naturally falls into the role of the father figure for Chris and you can tell it's a character Harrelson enjoys playing.
The movie also falls into the familiar tropes of previous movies including this being Allcock's last rotation, the grizzled former diver (Mark Bonnar) taking command, and the movie immediately ending without much resolution to previously mentioned points. It seems silly to include numerous conversations and scenes revolving Chris' future home and wedding but then not wrapping them up before the film ends.
Even with the struggles the film faces, the plot and short runtime are enough to make this an enjoyable movie overall. Even though viewers may struggle to fully connect with Chris as a person, it's hard to not cheer for the entire crew as they rush to save him.
It may be better to go into this film not knowing the ending of Chris' story as it took some of the suspense and dread out of the experience. This was one of the first films in years where audible gasps seemed to happen at the same time, and it'll hopefully encourage people to watch the original documentary and get an in-depth look into the entire story.
Last Breath is now playing in theaters.