THE LAST BREATH - Mark Reviews Movies

The Last Breath, RLJE Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 25, 2024

It's funny to think that a single animal among all those on Earth can claim a very specific genre of movie. It might be funnier, actually, that the genre of shark movie is so prevalent that it possesses its own formula and set of clichés. The Last Breath is definitely a shark movie, in that it features a group of characters trying to evade and a stop shark—or two or maybe even more of them—while some of them are occasionally attacked or eaten by the marine predator.

One doesn't need to be told this, of course, because that is the basic pattern of these movies, which persist despite the fact that nobody has done much different with the setup since it was established. That's also and very much the case with director Joachim Hedén's variation on the formula, which pits a group of five friends against a shark or two or many more while they explore the sunken wreckage of a World War II-era battleship.

Oh, after the ship is destroyed by a German U-boat in the prologue, the surviving crewmembers are eaten by a shark, by the way. Hedén and screenwriter Nick Saltrese waste no time showing us exactly what kind of film we're watching, and that level of economy in and honesty of storytelling is part of the reason this works.

Yes, this is a decent example of a shark movie. Indeed, it's a fairly good one compared to some of the junk the genre has given us over the decades. Standing on its own merits, though, the film is cleverly imagined and definitely gives the production's underwater crew, including a group of actors who appear to be doing all of their own diving, more work than they've probably seen in a while.

There's so much that happens underwater here that the film almost becomes an admirable accomplishment just for that element alone. The premise involves the aforementioned battleship, which hasn't been seen by human eyes since its sinking in 1944 off the coast of the Virgin Islands. Like so many others in the region, a couple of divers, Noah (Jack Parr) and Levi (the late Julian Sands, in his final role), have been looking for the ruins for years, and after multiple dives and a lot of failed attempts, Noah finally discovers it. He and his boss decide to take a moment to breathe in the success and report the wreckage to the proper authorities the next day.

Wouldn't you know it, this day just happens to also be the one when Noah's four best friends have arrived to visit him for the first time since he moved there from New York City five years ago. They're Wall Street jerk Brett (Alexander Arnold), comic relief Logan (Arlo Carter), one of the guys' sister Riley (Erin Mullen), and Sam (Kim Spearman), a pretty and caring doctor who's also Noah's ex-girlfriend. It becomes quite convenient, obviously, that a medical professional, who shows her skills and character by helping a local girl, is part of the team. What's the point, though, in harping on such coincidences in the case of something so inherently silly that still uses those contrivances in some neat ways?

We'll get to those later, but first, there's yet another coincidence. The same storm that revealed the shipwreck has apparently disturbed a shark—or, again, many sharks—in the region. This is a big problem after Brett offers to pay Levi to dive on the sunken ship, and since he's in debt, the captain reluctantly agrees.

Most of the action takes place inside the wreckage, which is already a maze of capsized corridors, rusty hatches, slivers of light from the surface, and corroded chunks of metal sticking out every which way when the divers first get there. Noah wants a safe dive, ensuring there's plenty of air remaining in the team's scuba tanks for the return trip and using a tough line to guide them back where they entered. Brett decides to push their luck, though, and since the group has to stay together, they wind up in a central part of the ship with an air pocket. That's when something big and strong pulls on the guideline and breaks it.

The maze of the ship suddenly becomes an impenetrable labyrinth, and yes, there's at least one shark that has found its way inside the wreck, too. The rest of the plot is a game of cat-and-mouse—sending the divers into new parts of the ship, forcing them to hide in various cabins, swimming as fast as possible away from the very hungry beast or beasts. That becomes even more perilous with the oxygen in the tanks diminishing, and as soon as the shark draws blood, it seems impossible.

The ships is such a worthy locale, with the murky water and low light making navigation difficult (and hiding some admittedly less-than-effective digital sharks), that the prolonged chase is generally effective. That's especially true because we're watching what looks like real diving, obviously on a series of controlled but authentically constructed sets. Add to that the assorted complications, involving the tanks and plenty of dead ends, and a couple of unexpected sequences, such as underwater surgery and the daring use of a bloody leg as shark bait, and this becomes a bit smarter than one might anticipate.

Shark movies may have set a pretty low bar, but The Last Breath easily rises above it. It's good enough and, at times, a bit more than that.

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