Title – Last Breath (2025)

Director – Alex Parkinson (Living with Leopards)

Cast – Finn Cole, Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Mark Bonnar, Simu Liu, Cliff Curtis

Plot – The true story of a trio of deep sea divers who were thrust into a life and death situation when a raging storm derails their maintenance job that is taking place 100’s of feet below sea level.

“When I was starting out, you only needed two things: little common sense and a good bottle of Scotch”

Review by Eddie on 07/07/2025

Director Alex Parkinson turns his 2019 documentary on the same subject matter into the recently released Last Breath, a film that is by no means bad but neither is it by any means overly good.

The very definition of a mid-tier proposition that’s hard to hate but hard to love, Breath explores the unbelievable true story of a group of deep sea divers that must defy the odds when a storm leaves one of their members stranded at the bottom of the ocean with only minutes of oxygen at their disposal.

Wasting little time getting into the thick of it, ensuring that Breath’s 90 minute runtime is always constantly on the move, Parkinson quickly introduces us to Finn Cole’s Chris Lemons, Woody Harrelson’s Duncan Allock and Simu Lu’s Dave Yuasa as the trio set out on a typically dangerous job to repair some underwater infrastructure, diving 100’s of feet into the depths to conduct one of the most dangerous operations humankind can undertake.

Not worrying with much in the way of backstory or motivation, Lemons, Allock and Yuasa are all relatively cookie-cutter figures in a survival story with a lot of unique elements but not a lot of unique cinematic qualities as Parkinson generically goes about shining a light on the trios misadventure and most tellingly Lemon’s battle to survive as his oxygen levels dwindle when he’s separated from his crew mates and ship.

The films lead trio are all capable performers but with Harrelson and Liu not having to stretch themselves by any means and Cole not suggesting too strongly that he’s going to breakout in a huge way from his time in hit TV show Peaky Blinders, Breath doesn’t get a lot out of its recognisable cast that also includes genuine bit parts by the likes of Cliff Curtis and Mark Bonnar.

What carries the film its entire way is the true story on which it is based upon.

The type of story that would be deemed far fetched if it were in fact not based on cold hard truth, Breath has an incredible story of human perseverance and survival at its core and it’s hard not to be griped by that founding ingredient and while the film around it merely goes through the motions, there’s something special about the tale at the centre of Parkinson’s film that is sure to gain his feature film some fans.

Final Say –

An amazing true story becomes a rather generic and forgettable survival tale in Last Breath. If you’re after the best version of this occurrence, the 2019 documentary of the same name is your best option.

2 1/2 comfy beds out of 5