What's the worst job you can think of? Anything that involves being stranded at the bottom of the ocean tops the list for me. That's why I'm honestly glad I didn't catch "Last Breath," the claustrophobic new deep-sea survival thriller that just arrived on Prime Video, when it first swam into theaters in February. Even watching it from my couch was so intense, I had to pause to catch my breath — and remember to count myself lucky for just how effortless that is. When you're 100 meters underwater, it ain't always so easy.
"Last Breath" has its boot on your windpipe from its very first moments. For director Alex Parkinson’s debut dramatic film, it's clear he knows how to build suspense, ratcheting up the stakes steadily, like a vise tightening one turn at a time. I've seen my fair share of the best survival thrillers, but the dangerous world of deep-sea diving makes it so that even the most mundane moments keep you on the edge of your seat. Then I'd remember that "Last Breath" is based on a terrifying real deep-sea diving incident, and my heart would somehow sink even further.
Any viewers craving a shot of pure adrenaline won't want to miss this intense flick now. Just as a heads up: "Last Breath" plunges you to depths no sane person would venture to. It's packed with moments that'll likely have you holding your breath, but it’s also a truly compelling watch. (Though if you have thalassophobia, i.e., a fear of deep bodies of water, maybe skip this one.) Here's everything to know about "Last Breath" now that it's landed on Prime Video.
What is 'Last Breath' about?
![Last Breath - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters February 28 - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sNMyooXZZTM/maxresdefault.jpg)
Parkinson’s debut dramatic film is based on his 2019 documentary of the same name, both of which follow the stranger-than-fiction incident in 2012 where a saturation dive in the North Sea turned disastrous. Working to repair a gas line deep beneath the waves, over 300 feet down, a trio of divers — Duncan (Woody Harrelson), Dave (Simu Liu), and Chris (Finn Cole) — battles freezing temperatures, intense pressure, and almost no visibility.
It's a dangerous job, and "Last Breath" makes that fact crystal clear. A tremendous amount of work and calculation goes into making such an impossible task survivable in the first place, and the sense of scale is breathtaking. Every creak, groan, and rattle of the hulking ship anchors you in quiet awe.
When a sudden storm throws the supporting ship off course, Chris is stranded hundreds of feet below at the bottom of the ocean while the rest of the crew scrambles to stage an emergency rescue mission.
'Last Breath' is a fun, steady drip of suspense and dread
Before watching "Last Breath," I wasn't familiar with the real-life story of Chris Lemons or Parkinson's documentary. If you're in the same boat, I'd encourage you not to look it up and spoil the ending for yourself. "Last Breath" may not reinvent the thriller, but it delivers relentless intensity that ratchets up to almost unbearable levels. Parkinson even reuses some of the real footage from the 2019 documentary, including a haunting shot of an unconscious Chris Lemons slipping into oxygen-deprivation shock.
The whole thing has this old-school, workmanlike feel to the way it’s told. The story is straightforward and wastes no time establishing the characters and stakes in broad, confident strokes that do exactly as much work as needed to pull you in. You've got your jumpy young newbie, the stoic career man who keeps his work and private life separate, and the old hat on his final dive before retirement. Stock character types that cleverly maintain a sense of familiarity and ground things without distracting from the real reason why you're here: to watch people work terrible jobs where Mother Nature gets the last laugh.
I appreciated the fact that "Last Breath" didn't get too into the weeds trying to explain the science behind what was happening. It glosses over all the giant pieces involved in this delicate operation, providing just enough information for you to understand all the many, many ways things could go wrong. I don't need to know how something called an "umbilical tether" works to figure out it's bad news when it breaks.
The sheer isolation of their work makes the divers feel light-years away from the supporting ship, almost like they’re in orbit, and "Last Breath" leans into this. The actors toss around terms you'd expect in a sci-fi movie as they seal each other into metal chambers, where their bodies are pressurized to match the depths they’ll be diving. It's a process so methodical it becomes almost hypnotic, a clever way to hook your attention for what comes next.
The sound design, particularly Paul Leonard-Morgan’s awesome and captivating score, does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to suspense, giving you the sense early on that things will end horribly — it's just a matter of when. The movie is a masterful balance of sound, story and visuals, working together to create a truly powerful experience where the tension ebbs and flows but never lets up.
My only real gripe is that Liu's David isn't given an equal opportunity to shine compared to his fellow divers. As the more stoic of the three, he already risks coming off as unfeeling at times, and the relationship between Harrelson's and Cole's characters is clearly positioned to be the beating heart of the movie. We're given glimpses into how they met, their careers and home lives, but not David's. It makes his character feel like a third wheel, through no fault of Liu's understated but impactful performance. Bobby Rainsbury’s anxious girlfriend character feels similarly one-dimensional; she's little more than a cliché, which is frustratingly familiar in survival thrillers. But she's also not an integral player in the movie's climax, so it's easier to ignore.
Stream 'Last Breath' on Prime Video now
If you’re in the mood for some heart-pounding excitement this weekend, "Last Breath" should definitely be on your radar. It's rare to find such an intense thriller that doesn't rely on shocking you with blood and gore. Rather, it leverages the most terrifying aspect of its story — the fact that it actually happened — to get your heart pumping, as you can't help but put yourself in Chris's shoes.
I suspect that's why "Last Breath" has been more of a hit with viewers than critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an impressive 91% audience score while its critics' score of 79% just barely meets the "Certified Fresh" threshold. "'Last Breath' keeps you on the edge of your seat through an intense underwater journey re-creating an incredible true story of human resilience and comradeship," reads the audience consensus.
This survival thriller excels at making you feel right there with the three divers, for better and worse. The sense of immersion that comes with having a front-row seat to saturation diving is both exhilarating and likely to leave your palms a little sweaty. While I wish the main trio were a little more fleshed out, that didn't stop "Last Breath" from hooking me from start to finish.
Still not feeling "Last Breath" for your next movie night? Check out this roundup of all the top new movies you can stream this week for even more options.
Watch "Last Breath" on Prime Video now.
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