Last Breath

Directed by Alex Parkinson, Last Breath follows several characters, including Woody Harrelson’s Duncan and Simu Liu’s David, as they spring into action after a deep-sea diver (Finn Cole’s Chris) is trapped at the bottom of the ocean. It’s almost inherently engrossing subject matter that is, for the most part, employed to compelling and periodically spellbinding effect, as the movie, written by Mitchell LaFortune, David Brooks, and Parkinson, unfolds in a deliberate yet methodical manner that ensures it grows more and more engrossing as it unfolds – with the low-key bent of the picture’s opening stretch eventually replaced by an often palpably tense atmosphere. (It’s difficult, for example, to downplay the impact of a nail-biting sequence wherein a rescue attempt is made using a remote-controlled robotic device.) And while the film’s recurring emphasis on shamlessly manipulative attributes can be grating, with this particularly true of Paul Leonard-Morgan’s sporadically overbearing score, Last Breath, anchored by its uniformly first-class performances, predominantly comes off as a stirring true-life tale that packs an unexpected emotional wallop in its third act.

***1/2 out of ****