Last Breath (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – A true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface.

My Take – As viewers, we truly enjoy watching miraculous true stories transcend on the screen. Particularly those about resilience, teamwork, and bravery.

Such is also the case of this feature directorial debut from Alex Parkinson, who adopts his own 2019 documentary to recount an incident that took place in 2012, in the world of saturation diving, one of the most dangerous jobs on Earth. An incident in which a diver, who was part of a team tasked with maintaining undersea gas lines in the North Sea, found himself stranded 300 feet under, leading to an intense rescue operation.

Indulging into a line of work and industry I knew little to nothing about, the decent adaption mainly succeeds because the script keeps things simple, and the direction from Parkinson is very good.

But while I personally felt that the film could have been much more compelling, director Parkinson’s script, which he co-wrote with Mitchell LaFortune and David Brooks, the jargon, hand-held camera and casual camaraderie of the crew of the diving bell floated out from Aberdeen Harbour all add an air of immediacy that draws the viewer in. And obviously the true story being told is incredible and very tense. I truly hope these divers get well paid for their efforts.

Set in 2012, the story follows Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), a saturation diver, who finally finds himself in a rotation to repair gas mains that cross ocean floors of the North Sea. Chris is joined on the dive by the relatively dis-compassionate David Yuasa (Simu Liu) and sentimental lifer Duncan “SAT Daddy” Allcock (Woody Harrelson), on his last dive before retirement.

But while the job starts off as routine, a confluence of events that include a freak storm and a snagged umbilical line leaves Chris stranded hundreds of feet at the bottom of the sea with precious little oxygen, and his crewmates both submerged and above with few options to get him back. But luckily for him, the crew refuse to give up and come up with last-ditch emergency efforts to retrieve Chris, hoping to save his life before the decompression and lack of oxygen take him out.

Here, director Parkinson plays things by the book, and keeps the narrative flowing as a typically tense survival drama with all the terrifying missteps and inspiring moments of human endurance that go with it. He carefully takes viewers through the process with which these men approach their job.

We see them as they get on a large boat in the North Sea, live in a pressurized habitat and adjust to a helium-rich atmosphere, and then hop into a diving bell to get on to the ocean floor, and work on the pipes and systems. Apparently vital structures that quietly underpin modern life.

Even though the trio of leads are stock character types, for example, Lemons is the youthful newbie determined to prove himself, Allcock is the paternal veteran trying to get the most out of his last assignment before retirement and Yuasa possesses an intensity one could expect from someone whose job includes trying not to die at the bottom of the ocean, the trio’s occupation feels akin to the experience of traveling to space. They isolate themselves from their families for months on end, relocating to the most hostile environments imaginable.

The main asset, though, is the camerawork, both above and below water, which plunges us into the intensity. For claustrophobic individuals, the film should prove especially a nerve-racking dive, as director Parkinson skillfully applies his film-making expertise, aided by top-of-the-range assistance from his production crew.

He even reuses some of the real footage he gathered for the 2019 documentary he made about the accident (also called Last Breath, and co-directed by Richard da Costa), including one truly awful shot of an unconscious Lemons going into oxygen deprivation shock. It’s a well-mounted production, keen on detail, and featuring some underwater photography that’s undeniably hard to pull off.

However, there is no denying that the narrative, that ought to feel incredibly tense, is also mostly procedural. Indeed, the efforts are commendable all round, but it makes for a one-time watch at most, with the keener instinct being to seek out the documentary version some time down the road.

Nevertheless, the performances are good all around. Woody Harrelson is solid as Duncan, who’s on his final dive before retirement. Finn Cole is excellent as Chris and brings the more poignant and emotionally driven moments to the forefront. Simu Liu is the more stoic of the three, and that makes him seem unfeeling sometimes, but his performance underscores the emotions brewing beneath the facade.

The supporting cast comprising of Cliff Curtis, Mark Bonnar, MyAnna Buring, Bobby Rainsbury, Josef Altin, and Nick Biadon add on to the sense of camaraderie and responsibility that flows through every scene. On the whole, ‘Last Breath‘ is a decent deep-sea thriller with some unbearably tense sequences.