The deep sea survival thriller “Last Breath” tells the harrowing and miraculous true story of Chris Lemons, a saturation diver who spent nearly half an hour without oxygen at the bottom of the North Sea and lived to tell about it. A number of medical professionals have studied his case and none of the experts have come up with an explanation for how Lemons survived. And not only that, he sustained no longterm mental or physical effects.

“Last Breath” is directed by Alex Parkinson and is a feature film adaptation of the 2019 documentary of the same name he made with Richard da Costa. Written by the trio of Parkinson, Mitchell LaFortune, and David Brooks, the film follows the incident and subsequent rescue attempt. Parkinson highlights the heroism of those on the ship and underwater in a high-stakes, race against the clock thriller that delivers with a near workmanlike precision.

Finn Cole plays Chris Lemons, a young diver from Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a loving fiancé (Bobby Rainsbury) and a bright future. He gets a call to join a team of saturation divers for some deep-water gas line maintenance. Excited for the opportunity, Chris joins team leader and 20-year veteran Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson) and the intense and hyper-focused David Yuasa (Simu Liu) aboard a state-of-the-art vessel destined for the tumultuous North Sea.

Parkinson’s earlier research for his documentary pays big dividends here as he pours a ton of effort into the details. Everything from Ian Seabrook’s stunning underwater photography to the cramped and claustrophobic metal interiors to the steady flow of nautical jargon adds to the movie’s overall realism. And it helps that Parkinson keeps his story simple and streamlined. The film is lean and compact but has a propulsive plot. Best of all, it avoids the temptation to artificially amplify the drama. Parkinson lets the story sell itself.

The tension comes to a boil after Chris, Duncan, and David take a diving bell 300 feet below the sea’s surface. From there Chris and David descend further down to a drilling structure known as a manifold which sits on the seafloor. As the pair begin to make repairs, Duncan monitors their progress from the bell while feeding them air, light, warmth, and communication through an umbilical. Meanwhile up above in the ship’s wheelhouse, Captain Andre Jenson (the always reliable Cliff Curtis) fights to keep the ship on location in the middle of a violent storm.

Without giving away the details, the storm causes the ship to drift following a major DPS system malfunction. As the ship is pulled away from the site so is the bell. While David is able to get free of the manifold to ascend to the bell, Chris’ umbilical gets caught and eventually snaps. It leaves him stuck on the seafloor with no communication, no light, and only a few minutes of air. In an instant their maintenance job turns into a rescue mission as everyone above water and below put their lives on the line to save Chris before it’s too late.

“Last Breath” might be a bit thin in places, and I can see it being too straightforward for some audiences. But the movie works because of its ability to earn our investment. We fully believe in its real-life scenario, no questions asked. And we care about the characters, even if we wish we knew a little more about them. There is a gritty realism in the performances that matches the story as the terrific ensemble capture the human spirit. Parkinson does the rest, delivering a gripping throwback thriller in what is his rock-solid narrative feature debut.

VERDICT – 4 STARS