Last Breath, the thrilling true story of a miraculous underwater rescue is now available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD, and is also available digitally via Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Comcast Xfinity, Cox, Microsoft Movies & TV, and Movies Anywhere.
Based on the 2019 documentary of the same name, Last Breath dramatizes the real-life rescue of deep sea diver Chris Lemons after he became trapped on the ocean floor with minimal oxygen. It’s a story that’s hard to believe, except for the fact that every bit of it is true. Full disclosure: I have not seen the documentary, but I will be seeking it out on account of how thrilling and moving the narrative version proved to be.
The Film:
I am now 40 years old, and even though I don’t have any children, I’ve started getting pretty into Dad Things™️. I’m suddenly interested in World War II, American History, and the armor exhibit at the art museum. Steely Dan? Crank it up! Got a new piece of furniture? You bet your bippy I’m going to place both hands on its load-bearing region and, with a slight exhale from my nostrils, apply pressure to it in order to check its structural integrity. It’s hard to explain, but it’s just what Dads do. And as a Dad-aged man, I’m suddenly very attracted to stories about good men being rewarded for a hard day’s work. And if something goes wrong at said work and a team of skilled technicians must each use their unique skill sets in order to defy the odds and save the day…
…I might shed some tears.
By this metric, Last Breath is a Dad Movie™️ through and through. There’s no fat on it, nor a single unneeded ancillary character. At 93 minutes it gets right to the goods and delivers them with panache. It’s, as they say, a real “meat and potatoes” affair.
And you know who loves meat and potatoes?
Dad.
Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole play Duncan Allock, Dave Yuasa, and Chris Lemons, the trio of divers sent to the bottom of the North Sea to repair a gas line. They are first placed into a pressurization chamber to prepare their bodies for the dive. From there they are lowered to the icy depths of the ocean in a diving bell suspended below the main ship, and once they reach proper depth, Dave and Chris don high-tech diving suits to travel through the pitch black water to the working area. The only thing keeping either man oxygenated is an “umbilical cord” which gives their suits the oxygen and electricity they need to get the job done.
Unbeknownst to the divers, the ship on the surface is having unexpected technical issues which, in conjunction with stormy waters, is causing it to drift. A hasty retreat is requested, but due to this confluence of circumstances, Chris’ cord gets tangled and the severed, leaving him stranded with just minutes worth of oxygen. It’s now up to the entire crew of the ship, as well as his cohorts in the diving bell, to return to the area of the accident m and rescue Chris before it’s too late.
Alex Parkinson, who directed the source documentary as well as this version of the story, alongside co-writers Mitchell LaFortune and David Brooks, smartly keep the film as lean as possible. There’s just enough exposition at the front to introduce our core trio, as well as the crew of the ship (including Cliff Curtis, who should be in every movie ever), before the disastrous dive begins. We meet Chris’ fiancée Morag (Bobby Rainsbury) in order to give the film a little extra weight, but beyond her, the film is about the dive and the dive alone — and it’s that much stronger for it.
The expositional scenes are enough to give us a feel for the personalities of the men and women in the crew, but not much more than that. There’s an alternate universe version of this movie that builds an arc for each of them, and while that’s certainly a workable idea, it doesn’t quite jibe with the extremely limited time placed upon the story by Chris’ oxygen reserves. To beef this up with needless character fluff could be entertaining, and might make for a more classically satisfying film, but it would also subtract from the already miraculous story at this film’s center. This lean opening also functions to give the viewer a workable understanding of how a deep sea dive works (and it’s downright fascinating — humans are incredible).
Harrelson is his reliable self, giving charm and a lived-in feel to Duncan, and Liu steps out of his comedy/action lane quite successfully as a no-nonsense foil to Duncan’s more easygoing nature. It’s a great role for Liu, who creates a character whose cold nature is borne of his duty toward his crew mates’ safety. His Dave is exactly the type of guy you want behind you when shit hits the fan.
Finn Cole does great work with minimal screen time (he’s stuck at the bottom of the ocean, where, like space, no one can see you act/hear you scream), creating a character who we immediately like and wish the best for. In the back third of the film he eventually gets to flex a bit, and does a bang up job with a uniquely physical performance.
The real star of the show, however, is the underwater photography. Last Breath is shot beautifully, and every bit of it feels real. No CGI was used for the underwater scenes, which were filmed in large water tanks. James Cameron would surely approve! As someone who wouldn’t be caught dead snorkeling let alone deep sea diving, these sequences were as thrilling to me as they were horrifying.
The Package:
The disc is light on special features, but the three it has are a worthwhile addition to the package. First and foremost is the commentary from writer/director Alex Parkinson and writer/producer David Brooks. I’m glad that commentaries are starting to become common on home video releases once again, because they give a unique window into the motivations and techniques behind a film, and Last Breath is a film that will certainly pique the curiosity of any film nerd. Parkinson and Brooks give a thorough and engaging breakdown of the film’s more technical scenes, as well as a look into what it took to translate documentary realism into a narrative feature. It also gives a sense of how seriously they took the task of bringing this story to life respectfully and accurately.
The commentary track goes hand in hand with Into the Deep: Making Last Breath, a making of featurette that goes into more detail than others of its ilk. The viewer gets a behind the scenes look at some of the underwater photography, as well as the physical training that the actors went through to bring it to life.
Finally, there’s a gag reel. We love a gag reel! And since this film basically follows two small groups of people stuck in small spaces, there was plenty of opportunity for the cast and crew to bond and get silly. This is just fluff, but it’s always nice to see filmmakers having fun.
In summation, Last Breath isn’t the most stacked disc available, but it’s an exciting and inspiring film that seems to have flown under the radar a bit. It’s worth checking out — it certainly had me on the edge of my seat (and at one point reaching for the tissues). Plus, Father’s Day is coming up, and Dad has always been a tough guy to find gifts for…
Technical Specs:
Blu-ray + Digital
Video Resolution/Codec:
1080p AVC/MPEG-4
Runtime:
1:32:50
Aspect Ratio(s):
16:9, 2.39:1 Widescreen
Audio Formats:
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 for feature, Dolby Digital 2.0 for Bonus Content
Subtitles/Captions:
English SDH, Latin American Spanish
