Last Breath review (2025)

Last Breath is one of those so impossible to believe it had to be made to a movie story. Fortunately, this tense action thriller treats its subject matter with respect and largely keeps the Hollywood melodrama to a minimum.

The prologue explains the role of deep-sea divers, who help maintain oil pipelines at the bottom of the ocean. It’s hardly glamorous work, but heat for homes in the winter doesn’t just happen from a flip of the thermostat.

Naturally operating 1,000 feet underwater makes deep sea diving maintenance one of the most dangerous professions. Last Breath shows the full depth (sorry) of that danger and how something as commonplace as a storm at sea can make that scenario even more precarious.

Chris (Finn Cole) is a relatively younger diver who recently got engaged to his girlfriend Morag (Bobby Rainsbury). He’s the third member of a veteran crew with his jovial mentor Duncan (Woody Harrelson, The Electric State) and the more strait-laced Dave (Simu Liu, Atlas).

Director/co-writer Alex Parkinson takes the time to break down the logistics of the prep work even before the divers do their maintenance checks. This isn’t the most riveting sequence, but it helps to establish how much goes into the process. It’s not the kind of operation that can be done haphazardly or with the usual heroic disregard of protocols to save the day. This isn’t the first time Parkinson has tackled this subject as he made a 2019 documentary alongside co-director Richard da Costa.

Parkinson also shows the very cramped quarters the diving teams reside in before going out on their missions. These scenes are useful in showing how the diving teams develop some sort of bond by being in such close proximity.

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Harrelson has such a warm, disarming presence and he’s able to establish his character without dominating the screen time. Liu continues to come off like a star on the rise able to play a variety of characters.

From the more comedic side as a Ken in Barbie to an action hero in Shang Chi to his steely focused Last Breath character, Liu is game and capable of solidly delivering with every performance. Cole is likable as the younger team member, who in a welcome twist, is just a nice guy and not some hotshot who thinks he knows everything.

Last Breath has a solid cast of supporting characters headed by Cliff Curtis (Invincible) as the ship’s captain, MyAnna Buring (The Witcher) as the first officer and Mark Bonnar as the diving supervisor Craig.

Naturally, something goes wrong when Dave and Chris do their maintenance check. In this case it’s a bad storm that knocks out the ship’s connection allowing it to stay stationary while the divers perform their work. This might be an everyday situation for the divers, but Last Breath screenwriters Mitchell LaFortune, David Brooks and Parkinson probably should have explained the logistics of diving in hazardous conditions like a bad storm.

Chris’ cord connecting him to the ship gets severed cutting off his communication from Dave and Duncan and with only 10 minutes of oxygen in his backup tank. That sends the crew scrambling to rescue him in time.

Parkinson and his underwater filming crew do a sensational job of crafting the vastness of the ocean. This is a strong contrast to the earlier scenes where Dave, Chris and Duncan are in such claustrophobic conditions. In the ocean, it’s just wide open and hauntingly dark. The cinematography is impressive with the glow of a helmet light or a flare piercing through the darkness.

A film based off of a true story probably wouldn’t be made with a sad ending, but it’s the journey that proves so engaging and suspenseful with Last Breath.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Photo Credit: Focus Features

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