When analyzing  a true story we often ask “How is that possible?”. True Stories have to have that, to be extraordinary, or why else are we watching it?  A true story has to be something that would not work in a fictional setting. Because when we analyze fiction we usually ask “Does that make sense?” as we attempt to find its logic. Last Breath is based on a true story, a true story that was a documentary in 2019, now has its stylized, glossy featurette starring Woody Harrelson, FInn Cole, and Simu Liu. Both films were directed by Alex Parkinson. 

What is working for this film that will immediately be noticed is the production design and set decoration. There is some great meticulous care in creating the atmosphere of work of deep sea driving, and how inhospitable the sea can be. The work setting of the ship and the ocean. Not just the divers, but also the other crew that work on the private owned ship. The other thing that is working for it is the incredible takes and scenes we have in water. Cinematography for the underwater scenes were done with famed underwater filmmaker Ian Seabrook. Underwater scenes are utterly fantastic. It was enthralling to see just establishing the status quo of the operation of doing this kind of work. 

There is a lazy attempt at a love story here and soft lob to mention family to give it some subplots, but the story’s  strength is its presentation of the technical aspect of the operations and the eventual rescue. The film maybe would be greatly enhanced if the film score had more of a punch to it. Last Breath is about the care of each other to risk it all to save another human, which is nothing new. There is a clean facet to the overall film. A niceness that might seem refreshing to some audiences wanting to bring their children. For me I find it peculiar though to make a film about the dangers, risky profession of deep sea diving and play it safe.