'Last Breath' Review: Harrowing true story paid respect with a Hollywood paint job
Harrelson and Liu round out the cast of a Scotland crew who undergo disaster as they're forced to rescue a crew member in a competent, if unnecessary, adaptation
Last Breath’s (2025) opening coda tells its audience of the perils of deep-sea diving and how those who service the 20,000 miles of pipeline along the ocean floor hold one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The job is so dangerous that it’s almost impossible not to have a story as harrowing and pulse-pounding as what’s on display in Last Breath, but oddly enough, this is not the first time the story has been told.
Director Alex Parkinson (alongside Richard da Costa) brought their story to a 2019 documentary of the same name, telling the story of how diver Chris Lemons almost met his end 100 meters below the surface of the North Sea. While carrying out repairs with colleagues Duncan Allcock and David Yuasa, their vessel’s dynamic positioning system, supplied by Kongsberg Maritime, failed, causing the vessel to drift into rough seas. The divers were dragged away from their worksite, and the umbilical tether providing Lemons with oxygen snapped off leaving only five minutes of breathable gas available. Fighting to find Lemons while braving the elements, the crew eventually recover his body. Somehow, be it a miracle or sheer dumb luck, Lemons regained consciousness and survived after 29 minutes without oxygen… with no lasting physical or mental effects.
The story presented in Last Breath, both the documentary and this latest adaptation, is assuredly one worth sharing, though the former probably would have been enough on its own. While Parkinson has an affinity for this material and does a competent job bringing this story to light with solid performances and presentation, the material feels better suited from the perspective of a documentary. With a documentary, you’re able to play with a mixture of interviews, research, and the overview of how a filmmaker tells the story. With a narrative, you’re often at the mercy of the Hollywood Machine, whose formula doesn’t do Last Breath any favors.
The narrative bookends that Last Breath utilizes to give the film a prestigious biopic feel give the film a coat of paint that only exists to pad the runtime out to a requisite 90 minutes. Chris (Finn Cole) is off for a 28-day venture in a metal tube below sea level, much to the dismay of his wife Morag (Bobby Rainsbury), who worries for his safety. Meanwhile, leader Duncan Allock (Woody Harrelson) finds himself at the tail end of a long, illustrious career carrying out repairs, melancholy that his sun is setting. Strangely though, co-diver David Yuasa (Simu Liu) starts the film out on a cold note towards Lemons, hard-shelled and often reminding him to take the job at hand seriously. This never comes back into the story though, so it’s ultimately pointless. The same can be said for the varying crew members aboard the support vessel Bibby Topaz, which ultimately malfunctions and places the diving crew in jeopardy. Their personalities are never given an opportunity to make a lasting impact–yet another reason the film doesn’t benefit from a narrative adaptation.
The most heartfelt moment in the movie finally comes during the closing coda, where we see the real Chris Lemons give a toast to Allock at his wedding, panning over to Allock for a tearful look of approval. This selfless humanity is ultimately what’s missing from Last Breath that I imagine was already accomplished in its documentary counterpart. While it’s sometimes necessary to go to great depths to pay homage, it’s also sufficient to simply stay above the surface.
B-
Feature image credit to Focus Features via Variety
