“Last Breath” isn’t anything fancy.

A bare-bones thriller based on a true story, it’s the kind of film that gives audiences exactly what they would expect coming in and delivers in workmanlike fashion.

Director Alex Parkinson, who co-directed the 2019 documentary based on the incident, and his crew almost makes it all look effortless, even though you know a lot of career and effort went into this film.

“Last Breath” follows three men, Duncan (Woody Harrelson), Dave (Simu Liu) and Chris (Finn Cole), who are three divers on a deep sea diving mission to repair an oil pipeline in the North Sea. When rough weather causes a malfunction in the support vessel, Chris is trapped in the pipeline corridors.

As he tries to escape his umbilical is caught and eventually cut, leaving him adrift at the bottom of the sea with only 10 minutes of oxygen.

“Breath” follows the rescue attempt, both from the two men he was working with underwater and in the vessel above.

This is a film that definitely plays well on the big screen, with some magnificently tense sequences. Even in the initial descent to the bottom of the scene there is tension, with Parkinson and his camera really capturing the drama of how fragile this whole process is and how dangerous the job is for people who do this every day.

Even those who know the story before going in will probably be on the edge of their seats – particularly in the final half as Chris’s plight looks bleak at best, only to have everyone involved determined to rescue him.

The screenplay credited to three writers doesn’t try to do too much more outside of this event and that is OK. There is some backstory with Chris and his fiancee, but mostly it’s about three average men put in extraordinary circumstances.

All three leads slip right into those “every man” quite well. Harrelson is his usual relaxed self, while it is nice to see Liu working outside the confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and establishing himself as more than just a comic book actor.

“Last Breath” clocks in at a breezy 93 minutes, perhaps leaving some audiences wishing for a little more meat on the bone. What is there though is very effective, a sleak little thriller that makes the most of its minimal screen time.

If You Go
“Last Breath”
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu
Directed by: Alex Parkinson
Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language
Playing at: Regal Bowling Green Stadium 12, Regal Greenwood Mall Stadium 10, Highland Cinemas (Glasgow)
Grade: B