In 2012, a serious accident involving saturation diving caused a man to be trapped at the bottom of the North Sea. Alex Parkinson co-directed a documentary about that accident and the aftermath called Last Breath (2019), which was only released in the UK and France. Now, Parkinson gets to direct solely a feature adaptation with Hollywood actors. Footage from his documentary gets incorporated, but what he's crafting here is a survival thriller. There haven't been many films about deep-sea diving, let alone many thrillers. I never even heard of saturation diving before seeing this film.
Strangely, a lot of the mechanics in saturation diving is not that different from the mechanics of going into outer space. It's why one character compares being a deep-sea diver to being an astronaut. The suits that deep-sea divers wear look like the ones astronauts wear. It's also why watching this film I couldn't help but think about outer space films. A deep-sea diver is tethered to their vessel much like an astronaut on a space walk is tethered to their vessel. One of the images from Parkinson's documentary is that of the diver in question becoming untethered and disappearing into the black void of the sea's bottom. It reminded me of the scene in Gravity (2013) when the astronaut in question becomes untethered and spun out into the black void of space.
Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders and Animal Kingdom) stars as Chris Lemons, the aforementioned diver who lives in Scotland. He has a fiancée who is preparing for their wedding. She has to deal with him being gone for a long time, if not a month or more. The film doesn't explore that relationship more than that superficial description. When Chris gets stranded underwater, his last thoughts are of his wife-to-be, so having her in the film is needed, but some delving or diving deeper into that relationship would've helped, but even more delving into Chris as a person or diver would've also helped.
Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games and White Men Can't Jump) co-stars as Duncan Allcock, a veteran diver who is being retired very soon, despite him not wanting to stop doing this work. He has a relationship with Chris, as they've done several jobs together. Even if Chris' fiancée gets short shrift, the film could've delved more into Chris' connection to Duncan. There is a scene where Duncan addresses it a little and there's a flashback of a previous mission the two had, but that scene feels like it washes over us too quickly and doesn't have much emotional resonance.
Interestingly, this film educates us on what saturation diving is and how it works. That education is fascinating because most people never get to see something like this up close and personal. The documentary probably gives more explanation of the process and probably provides more details about the steps involved in saturation diving. What we get here feels superficial as well. Parkinson probably didn't want to dwell in those details, but instead hurry into the action, such that there is. I appreciated the quick pacing, but explaining the process would've been more beneficial, though I'm sure other critics would've railed against the exposition.
Simu Liu (Barbie and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) also co-stars as David Yuasa, the diver who has to try to rescue Chris after Chris becomes lost undersea. If Chris' fiancée gets short shrift, then David's loved ones get even shorter shrift, as almost to be non-existent. His character is more stoic and not about showing emotion. He's very professional and is all about doing the job and not necessarily being friendly or all that interactive socially, even though he's literally locked in a tiny tube with two other guys. The film doesn't really do anything with that. He does get a beefcake shot and gets to really flex his arm muscles during the climactic action scene, but there's not much diving into who David is as a person either.
His character doesn't really have an arc. None of the men do. This could perhaps be forgiven if the action or drama surrounding them were better. The action ends up being a lot of climbing and that's it. Yes, there's a ticking clock to increase the anxiety or thrills, but that clock is more of a character than any of the men. In Gravity, the astronaut, played by Sandra Bullock, gets stranded in space, but she remains an active character and does things to aide in her own rescue. Here, Chris ceases to be an active character. He's essentially stuck and one thinks that the film might do something like 127 Hours (2010). Yet, his character goes unconscious and remains unconscious for the majority of the film, but it could've gone the way of Jacob's Ladder (1990) or the recent Oscar-nominee Robot Dreams (2024) where we're in the head of unconscious characters and see what their minds see. Unfortunately, this film doesn't do that.
Mark Bonnar (Napoleon and Catastrophe) plays Craig, the man in charge or the supervisor of the divers. Cliff Curtis (Avatar: The Way of Water and Sunshine) plays Andre Jenson, the captain of the ship that everyone is on. At one point, the film felt like it might go the way of The Martian (2015), which became more about the people trying to aide in the rescue from further away. That Oscar-nominated, science-fiction gave us more about the crew of the ship, but this film doesn't really give us much about Craig and Andre. As with a lot of the characters, this film makes Craig and Andre not much more than sketches. The film also gives them not much to do. The only compelling moment involves an underwater drone, but, as pieces to this puzzle, Craig and Andre feel inconsequential and could've been removed and not have been missed.
Rated PG-13 for language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 33 mins.
In theaters.