Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the cinematic waters, along comes another shark movie. “The Last Breath”, from director Joachim Hedén, taps into what has become a popular and well-traveled horror sub-genre. It seems like each year we get multiple shark movies of all makes and models. 2024 has been no different. But to Hedén’s credit, he gives his film its own unique spin while still delivering the thrills and kills people look for in shark flicks of its kind.

Written for the screen by Nick Saltrese who works from a story by Andrew Prendergast, “The Last Breath” is a surprisingly exciting and suspenseful thriller set mostly underwater. Historically, shooting underwater has been a challenge for filmmakers with the cinematography often being dark and murky. Not so with “The Last Breath”. The brilliant photography from Hedén and DP Eric Börjeson is clear and sharp, using various sources of light as well as deep shadows to create a forbidding and immersive setting.

As far as the story goes, in 1944 a German submarine sank the USS Charlotte battleship near the British Virgin Islands. Fast forward 80 years where a treasure hunter named Levi (Julian Sands) and his deckhand Noah (Jack Parr) discover the wreckage of the Charlotte buried deep in the sand on the ocean floor. Levi has spent several years and practically all of his money in search of the Charlotte. Knowing his boss’s financial strain, a well-meaning Noah convinces Levi to do something that proves to have deadly consequences.

A group of Noah’s old college friends reunite for a few days of partying and reminiscing. Among them is Sam (Kim Spearman), a nurse from New York and Noah’s ex; the rich and pompous Brett (Alexander Arnold); the pothead, Logan (Arlo Carter); and the easy-going Riley (Erin Mullen). Noah lets it slip that he and Levi have found the Charlotte leading Brett to offer an absurd amount of money for Levi to take the group on a dive to explore the sunken battleship. A desperate Levi reluctantly agrees. He delays reporting his find to authorities and takes the friends to the site. Bad idea.

Noah and his friends are all certified divers, but that doesn’t prepare them for lies below. As they descend deep into the belly of the ship they lose communication with the surface. But that’s nothing compared to the biggest threat – ferocious and extremely territorial man-eating sharks. And that sets up Hedén’s central tension. Who (if anyone) will make it out of the wreckage and back to the surface without being turned into chum? Disorientation, depleted oxygen, fear turning to panic – it all factors into this tense and claustrophobic experience.

Though it tries, the movie doesn’t offer much depth with its characters. And with the exception of Levi, you could make a case that they’re closer to character types than fully-formed people. But you could also brush that off as needless knit-picking, especially for a movie that has such a good grasp of what it wants to be. Its main focus is on building suspense (which it handles well) and submerging us in its impressively realized deep-water environment. And it does it all while incorporating some gnarly shark kills that should delight any genre fan. “The Last Breath” hits select theaters and VOD on July 26th.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS