2024 seems to be the year of shark thrillers! After making a sensational return in “Under Paris” (2024), they once again come back to thrill us in “The Last Breath” (2024), directed by Joachim Hedenis. Although the sharks don’t show up until quite late into the movie, when they do, they are traveling at lightning speed and only show interest in human blood. All the while, a group of five friends try to escape from the ruins of a sunken WWII ship discovered somewhere off the coast of a Caribbean island.
If you choose the willing suspension of disbelief, this film has a lot to like. However, the Jaws references, and the CGI sharks almost make you want to scream ‘CUTE’ after every 10 minutes in the second half of the film. “The Last Breath” (2024) is fun if you let underwater claustrophobia entertain you, and if you have watched it already, here’s a detailed (safe) dive into its plot.
The Last Breath (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film begins by giving us a glimpse of underwater warfare between two warring ships during World War II. A missile is seen hitting the USS Charlotte in 1944 off the coast of the British Virgin Islands. Soon after, two members onboard the now-burning ship mysteriously disappear into the water. The reason may be sharks.
The next moment, we move to the present time when Noah (Jack Parr) is on a speed boat across the waters. He is a professional diver, and he leaps in once they reach an appropriate spot in the ocean. He and his companion on the boat, Levi (Julian Sands), are engaged in a conversation about how they have been struggling to make ends meet when Noah makes a fascinating discovery underwater. It is a sunken ship embedded in the sandbed, so he decides to climb through the gun tower and explore its insides. However, the radio range is not great, so he decides to turn around and head back to the boat. Both of them are ecstatic and seem to be hoping to monetize this find in the future to improve their business.
Five of Noah’s friends have come to meet Noah in the Caribbean islands, and their introductions quickly establish who they are as friends; for example, Brett (Alexander Arnold) is the money guy, while Sam (Kim Spearman) is Noah’s romantic interest. Levi fixes the group some drinks while Noah announces to his friends that they have just discovered the USS Charlotte, an 80-year-old sunken WWII ship off the coast of this island. His friends are immediately impressed and wish to check it out. Still, Noah warns them, saying that the ship had to be first reported for marine biologists to study and the local jurisdiction had to take care of things first before they can go ahead with viewing it.
Brett even proposes to give Levi 1000 dollars to dive to Charlotte, but Levi doesn’t agree. Later that night, Levi discloses to Noah that they are strapped for cash and would have to sell the boat and put an end to their business. Noah proposes they ask Brett to pay 50k dollars for all the friends to go on a dive since all of them were certified divers and would have Noah as their tour guide.
The next morning, they all prepare for the dive to the USS Charlotte. When they reach the right spot, Noah tells them to stick together because they are not aware of what the waters hold and not to get overconfident underwater. By then, Logan has already dived into the water, and Noah jumps after him because his BCD isn’t connected. The rest of the group also dives in, and they head towards the ship. Once inside the ship. Noah ties a guideline to one of the beams of the ship and instructs them to breathe slowly.
They go further down inside the ship, goofing around and playing rock-paper-scissors among them. Noah asks Brett to go back, but he shrugs off the advice, telling Noah that he has paid him enough to go as far and as long as he wants. The rest of the group follows Brett inside the ship to one final chamber, and they decide to take their oxygen masks off. Logan (Arlo Carter) reveals that he has snuck some alcohol, and they decide to take a swig each, despite Noah’s warnings against the same.
Suddenly, the guideline snaps, and they sense the presence of something else underwater, so they all decide to head back, but soon, they start to feel lost inside the ship. They speed off in Riley’s direction only to meet a dead end. It turns out that Riley has less than 15% oxygen remaining, so they are running out of time. They manage to climb up by a level as well, but before they can manage to go any higher, Logan is attacked by a shark. Sam tries to help, but Noah quickly senses the presence of sharks around, realizing the imminent danger they have all pushed themselves into.
Is The Last Breath (2024) a shark movie?
Yes, “The Last Breath” (2024) is a survival thriller in which sharks play the antagonists, chasing after a group of five friends who have dived into a sunken ship to explore it. The sharks appear only about 30 minutes into the movie, and their murderous intent actively keeps the group from being able to escape the ship. Although they strategize and try their best, the sharks are smarter, and most of them are sacrificed to sharks by the end of the film, including Levi, Riley, Logan, and Brett.
Does Noah survive the sharks?
Although Noah is the most professional diver in the group, he gets heavily injured when trying to trap a shark in a trap using Riley’s blood as the bait. His arm is attacked, and he cannot swim back up, so both Sam and Levi ensure that he has successfully reached the boat’s deck. In the film’s final scenes, we see him knitting a woolen cap for his son, a clear sign that it is a ‘dexterity exercise’ to keep his anxiety about shark attacks in water at bay.
The Last Breath (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Which of Noah’s Friends Survive Till the End?
They soon see a shark emerge from the door they had just exited and go in the opposite direction. However, just when they thought they had evaded the threat, Logan’s mask fell off, and the shark came back to chase them. They quickly escape, Logan’s blood trailing behind them and the shark speedily chasing them. They close themselves inside an isolated cabin, and they try to help Sam operate on Logan, but they can’t save him. The threat of the shark hasn’t passed, and while they are still struggling to wrap their head around Logan’s unfortunate death, Brett suggests that they leave Logan for the shark because it wants blood to feed on.
So, they leave Logan’s body for the shark, and once the shark takes the bait, they try to make an escape from the cabin. However, on their way out, Riley cuts herself against the door, so they decide to head back to the air pocket for safety. While Sam helps fix Riley’s leg, Brett picks up a fight with Noah about sharks in the waters. Noah says that he has never seen sharks in these waters. Brett calls Noah a loser and says Sam was right in dumping him. The two boys get into a fight, but Sam quickly shuts them down and proposes to work together to get out of this place.
Now, they start to strategize – Noah and Brett decide to get out of the ship and drag the boat closer, while Sam and Riley decide to stay back in the air pocket because Riley has only 6% air remaining, and Sam doesn’t want to risk her being trapped there. However, Noah warns them to make a move if the air in the pocket starts to deteriorate. On their way out, they spot the remains of Logan’s body and decide to make a move together so that they can get the hell out of that place. Soon afterward, they spot the torn guideline and are attacked by the shark again.
This time, Noah is trapped under fallen beams, and Brett has to help lift them to help Noah out. Noah helps divert the shark with his air tank and returns to the air pocket. He and Sam decide to find another way out and reach the munition chamber, i.e., the place from where the shells were sent up to the gun towers in warships. Noah decides to proceed with the exploration, and Sam bids him off with a kiss.
Brett manages to swim to the surface, close to the boat and informs Levi that there are sharks in the water and that the others are trapped. Levi encourages him to swim toward the boat, but a shark attacks Brett. First, his leg is eaten off, and then he disappears altogether. Meanwhile, Noah brings Riley one level up. Noah and Sam find a way out, but it quickly turns out to be a dead end; that’s when they realize that there may be more than one shark. They decide to use a cage and trap at least one of the sharks using Riley’s blood from the wound. However, in the process, Noah’s arm is hurt. Sam helps Noah out of the ship, but Riley is attacked and eaten up by both the sharks.
Meanwhile, Levi dives in and manages to save Noah, while Sam decides to trap the shark by diving back into the ship. She also injures a shark on the way to attack her with a metal rod and escapes the ship. However, Levi, who dived back to save Sam, is attacked and killed by a shark. When we cut to the future, we see Sam riding a speedboat and Noah sitting in the back, knitting a cap for their newborn son, whom they have named Levi. It is a happy family of three now, and they are off the coastline of New York, hinting at how Sam and Noah may have finally managed to bring their worlds together. “The Last Breath” (2024) is a pretty intense survival thriller that keeps you on your toes and makes you anticipate the sharks’ attacks with bated breath.
Read More: Where to Watch & Stream ‘The Last Breath’?
The Last Breath (2024) Movie Trailer
The Last Breath (2024) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
Cast: Kim Spearman, Jack Parr, Alexander Arnold, Erin Mullen, Arlo Carter, Julian Sands, Maxime Durand
The Last Breath (2024) Movie Release Date: Jul 26th, 2024 | Genre: Mystery & Thriller | Runtime: 1h 32m
