Overview
Last Breath is a 2025 survival-thriller directed by Alex Parkinson, and written by Parkinson together with Mitchell LaFortune and David Brooks. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole; the cast also includes Cliff Curtis among others.
Based on the true story of a near-fatal accident involving a saturation diver in the North Sea in 2012, Last Breath dramatizes one of the most harrowing rescue missions under water ever attempted. With a runtime of 93 minutes, the film delivers a succinct, high-tension experience.
Premise & Plot
The core narrative of Last Breath follows three saturation divers: Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu) and Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson). They are stationed in a pressurised diving bell from a support ship and tasked with maintaining an undersea gas-manifold some 300 feet (roughly 90 metres) below the surface in the North Sea.
The drama begins when the ship’s dynamic positioning system fails during heavy seas, causing the vessel to drift. As the diving bell and attached umbilicals are dragged by the rising current, Lemons’ life-support tether (umbilical) becomes severed, leaving him stranded on the seabed as his breathing gas supply begins to run out.
From that moment on, the film is a race against time: Lemons fights the cold, the crushing environment, and the rapidly depleting oxygen; his colleagues and ship-crew scramble above and below the surface to restore communications, restart systems, and rescue him before the impossible becomes inevitable. The tension builds as viewers are made to understand just how isolated and vulnerable a saturation diver can become.
In the epilogue, the film reveals that Lemons survived without lasting physical or mental impairment — a fact that continues to baffle experts.
Production & Real-Life Context
The story is drawn from a real incident that occurred in September 2012 off the coast of Scotland. The film is a feature-drama remake of a 2019 documentary of the same name (also co-directed by Alex Parkinson).
In preparing the film, Parkinson drew upon his experience from the documentary, but adapted the narrative to a tighter, more dramatic form rather than a purely observational documentary. In interviews he has remarked that the truth of the event was so extraordinary that it required little embellishment.
Filming took place on location in Malta beginning in May 2023, wrapping in July of that year.
Themes & Technical Aspects
One of the striking features of Last Breath is how the film immerses the viewer in the disorientation and claustrophobia of the underwater environment. The cinematography by Nick Remy Matthews (and co-DOP Ian Seabrook) emphasises the isolation, darkness and confined spaces inherent in saturation diving.
Some of the major themes include:
- Human resilience: Lemons’ survival defies scientific expectation, underscoring how far humans can push under extreme circumstances.
- Teamwork under pressure: The divers and ship-crew must coordinate, improvise and remain calm under nearly impossible odds.
- The hidden danger of industrial environments: Saturation diving is not a typical “action” field, yet this film reveals how dangerous, remote and high-stakes these jobs are.
- Time and mortality: The ticking clock of oxygen depletion is a literal and metaphorical driver of the film’s suspense.
On the technical side, the film avoids over-the-top spectacle in favour of gritty realism. As ScreenRant noted, about 40 minutes in the diver is stranded under water, setting the stage for the second half of the film to live up to the premise of “how do you survive when everything has failed you?”
Reception & Impact
Critically, Last Breath has been well-received: on Rotten Tomatoes it holds about a 79% approval rating from critics, with strong audience support. Reviewers praised the film’s taut pacing, immersive visuals, and respectful treatment of the true story. For example, one critic wrote: “a gritty, grounded thriller that knows how to keep us hooked.”
In terms of box office, the film opened to around $7.8 million in its first weekend in the U.S., with a modest overall global take which suggests it may find more of its audience on streaming or home viewing.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths:
- The “based on true events” hook is used effectively: the audience feels the danger is real.
- Strong performances: Woody Harrelson lends credibility and gravitas, Simu Liu brings energy, and Finn Cole convincingly conveys the ordeal of the diver.
- Visual and auditory immersion: the underwater sequences, the sense of isolation, the ticking oxygen clock lend authenticity.
- Tight editing and pacing: at only 93 minutes the film doesn’t overstay its welcome and maintains tension.
Weaknesses:
- Some critics felt that the character development was thin — given the high-stakes scenario, the film focuses more on event and suspense than deep emotional backstory.
- For viewers familiar with the 2019 documentary, the narrative may feel familiar or constrained by factual boundaries.
- The brevity of runtime means some exposition is compressed, which might make the first half slower for some audiences.
Why It Stands Out
In a year filled with big budget superhero movies and franchise expansions, Last Breath distinguishes itself by offering something different: an intense, real-life survival story rooted in a specialised industrial world that most viewers know little about. It bridges the gap between “documentary realism” and “thrill cinema” by dramatizing the real event in a way that retains credibility while delivering cinematic tension.
Additionally, the film serves as a visual and narrative reminder of the hidden, dangerous work that goes on beneath the seas. Saturation divers are rarely the focus of popular culture, yet this film brings that world into sharp focus — the hyper-pressurised living chambers, the diving bells, the long umbilicals, the drift of a vessel in heavy seas, the sudden failure of life-support systems. It’s not only about survival but about an environment that demands mastery and respect.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a survival thriller that doesn’t rely on explosions and CGI spectacle, but instead on suspense, minimalism and the raw power of nature + human endurance, Last Breath is a compelling watch. The real-life element adds weight, the visual design immerses you in the deep-sea world, and the ticking-clock scenario keeps you engaged. It may not delve deeply into backstories or romantic subplots, but that economy of storytelling works in its favour — it spends time where it needs to: the moment of crisis.
For fans of films like 127 Hours or Buried — stories of one person trapped and fighting for every second — Last Breath offers a new setting with just as much visceral tension. And for those curious about real-life industrial-risk professions, it offers both education and entertainment.
