Seven Days: 'Last Breath'

A submarine sinks towards crush depth with plutonium in its ballast tanks. Frank must stop it surfacing, which would result in widescale death.

The stakes are particularly high in this ambitious storyline for the time travel show. Let's get to the bad points first. The guest cast's Russian accents are iffy (and that's being kind), and several are so impenetrable that it's almost impossible to work out what they're talking about. Secondly, a couple of elements (breathable water, keypad) are stolen from the film The Abyss, although they were admittedly pretty cool back then too. Third, there are several serious continuity problems: a gun is apparently used to wound without being fired, people are locked up without having their guns taken off them, and there's the world's least convincing baby.

This last set of points exists because the the show obviously doesn't have the highest of budgets, and for this one, the money ran out pretty quickly to get a convincing submarine sorted out along with the underwater sequences. That still doesn't let off some really dodgy effects though.

Now to the positives. There's a good air of tension developed through the story, and the regular cast are on good form, bonding nicely as a team and throwing out the occasional snappy rejoinder. It's actually an ambitious tale to try to tell, so all credit to the crew for their ability to realize it; it's just a shame that certain aforementioned elements let them down.

It's not a bad effort overall, but it's let down by trying to do too much.

***

Back to the Seven Days guide, head back to the main TV reviews page, or return to the main page?

This page hosted by
Get your own Free Home Page