Last Breath: A Respectable Telling of an Incredible True Story (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Films based on true events can be a rather difficult thing to get right, especially when those events are either well-known or have already been covered in other ways. In the case of Alex Parkinson's "Last Breath," the actual story of Chris Lemons' 2012 diving accident may not have been particularly well-known at the time, but was widely-publicized in Parkinson's 2019 documentary of the same name. That said, even those who aren't familiar with the story at all are not going to have much trouble figuring out where it's headed, meaning that the film's overall effectiveness is going to come from how well the events are told. Will Parkinson be up to the task of bringing this incredible true-life tale to life as a feature film with all the required tension & suspense, or is this a story that was best left as a documentary with its remarkable archival resources?

The film tells the story of a team of saturation divers whose job it is to maintain pipelines at the bottom of the North Sea. There's Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson), a long-time diver on his final run, David Yuasa (Simu Liu), who's very focused on the work, and Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), who's going on his first dive after being a deckhand for a few years. After pressurizing, they dive in the bell, from which David and Chris dive to the bottom of the sea. When a storm knocks out their ship's engines, it starts to drift, forcing them to abort, but Chris' oxygen line gets caught on an underwater manifold and snaps, causing him to resort to his ten-minute emergency supply. With the ship and the bell still drifting, David has no choice but to rejoin Duncan and wait for an opportunity to go back and rescue Chris. It becomes a race against time to fix the ship and recover their stranded man before it's too late.

As mentioned, "Last Breath" is the kind of film where, even if you aren't familiar with the details of the actual event, you're more than likely going to be able to figure out exactly how it's going to end. Because of that, it's going to be all about the filmmakers' ability to tell those events, as well as their ability to bring out the incredible urgency, tension, and suspense associated with them.

On those terms, the film is at least partially successful. Director Alex Parkinson and his co-screenwriters Mitchell LaFortune & David Brooks relay the events in a suitable, by-the-numbers manner, giving us a good feel for the people involved and what they did during this terrible incident. Where it's a little less successful is in the building up of the tension in order to make it a compelling telling of the situation. Again, we already know where it's headed, so that tension is going to be even more important than usual, but with the by-the-numbers approach (This happened, and then this happened, etc.), it never really gets to the point where the audience's attention is rapt with anticipation as to what's going to happen next.

Even so, it remains a decent telling of the incident, and the cast does a fine job of bringing these real-life people to the screen. It's just a shame that it doesn't quite check all of the necessary boxes to make it as engrossing as it should've been. Then again, it's rather difficult to follow up the documentary, which featured actual footage & audio of the events, with a dramatization that tries to reenact those same events. The reenactment may be a respectable, well-acted rendition of the tale, and if you're just looking to learn what happened, it serves well-enough, but obviously it's never going to compare with the real material or hearing the story from those who were involved, so if you're looking for something a little more than just a relaying of the events, you're likely better off just sticking with the documentary instead.

Video/Audio:

"Last Breath" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. This is a rather dark film at times, featuring several scenes that take place underwater, but the picture always remains perfectly sharp & clear throughout its entire 90-minute duration. Likewise, the 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Universal has done a wonderful job in both areas for the film's physical release.

Special Features:

Feature Commentary with Co-Writer/Director Alex Parkinson and Co-Writer/Producer David Brooks

Into the Deep: Making Last Breath (11 Minutes): A featurette that takes you behind the scenes of the film with the cast & crew.

Gag Reel (2 Minutes)

Conclusion:

"Last Breath" is a respectable, well-acted rendition of the incredible true story of Chris Lemons' 2012 diving accident, one that relays the events in a concise & by-the-numbers manner, but where it comes up a little short is in its inability to build much urgency, tension, and suspense from its telling of the incident, ultimately making for a decent depiction of the story, but one that never truly becomes compelling.

Score: 3/5

Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

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