Based on a true story, Last Breath tells us about saturation diver Chris Lemons (Finn Cole) who finds himself trapped at the bottom of the North Sea without oxygen or heat. 

Trying to save him are experienced Bellman Duncan Allcock (Woody Harelson) and Diver Dave ‘The Vulcan’ Yuasa (Simu Liu) and the crew aboard his parent ship that is caught in a violent storm and subject to computer failures of its positioning software. 

I came to Last Breath with a large level of fascination as I have previously seen the engrossing documentary based on the events of 18th September 2012 which recounts this same story. You can read that review here – Last Breath. This dramatisation of the events was co-written and directed by one of the documentarians Alex Parkinson, making his debut as a feature film director. So it would be even more interesting to see whether he would be able to convey the intricacies of the situation and make the story a dramatic one. 

From a cinematic point of view the film does a great job. Visually it really excels in the underwater shots and also provides some startling long shots of the boat on the ocean in both good and extreme weather. 

It also straddles a fine line between documentary and dramatisation well. The intricacies of saturation diving and its dangers are summarised within the plot well. Whilst the decision not to have the diving crew speak in helium affected high pitch voices was probably a good one! Check out the documentary if you want the full details of just how dangerous this job is and how particular a type of person you need to be to perform it. 

From a casting point of view they have done a good job as well. Woody Harrelson provides most of the emotion whilst Simu Liu plays the role of ‘The Vulcan’ really well. The actors playing the crew also do a great job of playing professional and emotional. 

Given the commitment to realism and the professionalism of the crew there is an argument that the film can feel a little too procedural. But I have to say that it still managed to do a pretty incredible job given I knew every step of the process and still found it exciting. 

My main gripes are personal ones. As the film is made for an American audience our “British” divers are talking measurements in feet rather than metres. And as an IT professional the state of the comms room on that ship is rather shocking. Otherwise there is also an argument of whether both this and the documentary are really required. 

All in all though this is a solid account of an extraordinary event. Given that both the film and documentary come in at just over 3 hours combined they would make a good double bill where you could compare events. Also stick around for some real footage at the end.