PREMISE
A true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface.
THE GOOD STUFF
DREAD- Last breath is the kind of rescue mission movie that understands that the rescue mission is the thing that should be taking up a lot of the running time. And in that, it also understands that the rescue itself has to have an overwhelming sense of dread to be anywhere close to a crowd pleaser.
I guess there’s a way to mess that up with making things too insurmountable, but that doesn’t happen with this film. Most of this film is in deep dark water, where the slightest mistake can kill you in seconds. This film shows you the many ways in which that can happen, and makes the environment surrounding the protagonists grim in the best way.
PACING- This is not a good bathroom break movie. The pacing is brisk, and every scene has a sense of vitality. I went to the restroom and ran back around the hour-long mark, and I feel that I missed so much. There’s not a lot of exposition or extraneous sentimental stuff to justify bathroom breaks.
THIS CAST- The good rescue movies show the many obstacles that a team (usually) of individuals discover and execute. They’re the kinds of films where the supporting characters really kick ass and stand out in their little section of the movie where they find out and execute their section of the attempted rescue. This doesn’t have many elaborate problems that a film like Apollo 13 has. There is not much scientific jargon to run over the audience so that they know the thing is being executed correctly. Simple. This movie keeps it simple. In the best way.
THE BAD STUFF
THE PRESENTATION- This type of movie should be seen on an IMAX screen given how expansive and daunting the environment and obstacles are. This is a $25 million movie and the presentation seems very… Netflix-ish. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem for me, except that I did see the brutalist not too long ago. That movie cost $10 million, and it looks like it costs $100 million on screen. Last breath has double the budget, and somehow doesn’t look anywhere near as impressive as that film did, somehow.
THE UGLY STUFF
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Last breath is the kind of movie that I feel a screenwriting teacher would give a new student to show them how to set up a standard script. Characters are introduced rather quickly, their motives are quickly established, they all play to a particular kind of trope given the genre of the film, and the movie is a lot more about the rescue than the characters. And that’s okay. There have been better rescue mission types of films, of course, but you have to appreciate something with a basic set up and beautifully executed.
LAST BREATH is in theaters now
