Hollywood has a long history of rescue movies; men trapped in terrifying situations while a separate group of men figure out how to get them out. “Black Hawk Down,” “Captain Phillips,” even something like Tony Scott’s “Unstoppable” – audiences have always gotten a kick out of watching someone survive something extraordinary.
The newest addition to the oeuvre is “Last Breath,” directed by Alex Parkinson and based on the documentary of the same name that he co-directed back in 2019. The film is based on the true story of diver Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), whose umbilical cord snapped during a routine saturation dive, leaving him trapped 300 feet underwater with only a small amount of oxygen left in his backup tank.
The rescue mission to get Chris out of the water takes up the bulk of the 93-minute runtime of “Last Breath.” The moments bookending the rescue mission itself are pretty clunky, and one of the lead performances is far outclassed by the others. But a movie like this can get away with frayed edges if the mission itself leaves you wanting to pump your fist into the air and cheer at the strength of human ingenuity and spirit. “Last Breath” isn’t the best of this type of movie by any means, but it manages to achieve that cathartic feeling at the very least.
Read Sammie’s full review on Rough Draft
