The Last Breath, It’s Got Sharks

RLJE Films graced us with an advanced digital screener for The Last Breath, a 2024 shark movie. I have an ethos of “any shark movie is a good shark movie” and then I noticed the late Julian Sands among the starring cast. Both are positive motivators and added to the belief that I would get my shark movie needs, met.

Levi (Julian Sands) is an eclectic retiree working alongside beach bum Noah and both really like boats. They drive a tourist dive boat to earn money and fanboy over ships and ship-related things whenever the mood strikes. When news of an especially notorious missing warship has been revealed the two are so excited they nearly trip over themselves getting in their diving gear.

Julian Sands is The Red Torpedo

Levi isn’t a diver anymore because of his age and injuries. In any case, The Last Breath subtly foreshadows future events by pointing out that he used to wear a red wetsuit and that his nickname was “The Red Torpedo.” He also likes to knit when he is sidelined waiting for any underwater explorers and proves it by showing people the hat he made with his own bare hands.

Brett is assigned as the lover of Noah’s ex-girlfriend, which could be overlooked given there is nothing to indicate they like each other. However, Ex-girlfriend Sam isn’t with Brett for his money because she is a Doctor. The Last Breath cleverly points this out by having Sam buy some overpriced sunglasses from a little girl in the street before telling her she needs medicine for her infected finger.

In a reunion-style scenario, Noah’s friends, including his ex-girlfriend Sam and a couple of old college friends, have visited him in the Caribbean. Sam brought her new man with her because that’s never weird at all. To cap it off her beau, Brett is an obnoxious blonde with more money than common sense.

The supporting cast frees up more opportunities for the Shark to get some on-screen time by introducing Logan and Riley. As characters, filmmakers would have been better off replacing them with two Spaniels. One jumps into the water without his scuba gear on and the other waits for everyone else throughout the entire runtime. Performances were good all around, don’t get me wrong, but only if they had something to work with.

After a whole day of socialising and having good times, Levi mentions that he and the business are heavily in debt. With the sunken bones of USS Charlotte calling, the two can’t believe their luck when influencer Brett demands they take the group to their mysterious dive site too. Noah points out that this type of dive is not really a group activity. Especially seeing as it’s the first time anyone has seen the ship in more than 80 years. But Brett figures ten thousand dollars ought to convince him and Noah reluctantly takes his money to support his good mate Levi.

The disguises for who will die in what order is wafer-thin utilising the generic horror fodder rule. The most annoying to the least annoying die first to last combined with that one guy that is kind of likable but you won’t mind if he gets eaten.

The Last Breath is a movie that will make you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth while ripping you off. After the players are introduced the underwater creature feature is entirely below the surface. Sure there are times when this technique has worked to a horror movie’s advantage. Take 47 Meters Down, for example, a great claustrophobic shark movie.

“Sharks can’t swim backward”

Quote from the movie The Last Breath

Writers apply shark-related facts into the script as a plot device to deter the massive fish from eating its heroes. Similarly, in the shark movie, No Way Up, a little girl proclaims that sharks don’t like bubbles. Here writers used a shark’s inability to swim backward along with bubbles as an already known fact to get the pesky finned apex predators to go away. It all felt a little too familiar. Also familiar was the feeling that sometimes, the actors The Last Breath started with are not quite the ones we see all the time. No one would know if the people were swapped out for actual divers.

The special effects are CGI and mostly precise. There are moments of not-so-bad shots with a longer focus point that works well. But for close-ups, the CGI shark looks animated and mechanical. An oddly enjoyable operation attempt by underwater Doctor Sam was a novel if not futile activity that will be remembered long after the memory of this film has been forgotten.

CGI and Shark Movies

In the latter half, there’s a hint of historical data about the USS Charlotte and why the group is being attacked. Noah talks briefly about the ship needing blood but unless I missed it, there is no other mention of any sort of supernatural aspect. The sharks don’t quite come off as normal though, with later versions indicating there might be loads of things these sharks could do given the right coding…. I mean, surely filmmakers wouldn’t give a shark unnatural features just to show off.

Without context, the Great White Sharks in the Last Breath display traits uncommon to their species. They hang about waiting and bang onto iron bars with their giant heads. While cool, this isn’t the first shark movie I’ve watched this year that made me laugh a little.

The closing scenes were the most action-packed even if completely unrealistic. Julian Sands put his best efforts into his final film was by far the most memorable part of The Last Breath. Mother of Movies has 16 shark-related feature recommendations on vanessasnonspoilers.com – visit this link for all our listed films. For another movie like The Last Breath watch, Under Paris and Night Swim.

The Last Breath is rated

2 Sam and Noah knitting up beanies forever out of 5

Director Joachim Hedén (Breaking Surface 2020 which also features divers.)
Writers Andrew Prendergast and Nick Saltrese. Both wrote for Shark Bait.
Stars Julian Sands, Alexander Arnold, and Jack Parr.

Watch the Last Breath Trailer

The title was released to digital on July 1st in the UK and in the USA you can watch it from July 26th, 2024. For more ways to watch, Justwatch.com has some links to visit below when this title starts streaming in more places.

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