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Last Breath is a gripping survival thriller that hit theaters on February 28, 2025, captivating audiences with its intense portrayal of deep-sea diving peril. Directed by Alex Parkinson, the film is a narrative adaptation of the 2019 documentary of the same name, chronicling the harrowing true story of a diver’s fight for survival in the North Sea. With a stellar cast and authentic filming locations, Last Breath offers a visceral cinematic experience that immerses viewers into the treacherous world beneath the ocean’s surface.

Last Breath: Where Was the Film Shot? – Filming Locations & Other Details

To maintain authenticity, Last Breath was filmed across several key locations:

North Sea: Production commenced aboard the actual ship where the real-life events unfolded, spending approximately a month at sea to capture genuine maritime environments. Malta: Following the North Sea shoot, the crew relocated to Malta, utilizing its renowned coastal scenery and advanced water tank facilities to replicate deep-sea conditions safely.

Take a deep breath and prepare to dive into the world of Alex Parkinson’s feature-length project, Last Breath. To celebrate the announcement that the Focus Features flick will soon be receiving an at-home release, Collider is thrilled to take audiences behind the scenes in an exclusive sneak peek. Today’s look will be one of many combined in the release’s special features lineup, which will allow audiences to hear from those closest to the production, including its stars: Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games franchise), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders).

“Last Breath” (2025) is based on the true story of a 2012 saturation diving accident in which the dynamics system processor of an underwater vessel failed, causing the diver Chris Lemons to spiral out of control. Lemons was separated from his fellow diver, David Yuasa after his umbilical cable was cut during the accident. Yuasa was left to assume that Lemons had perished, as he had only five minutes of breathable oxygen left in his suit at the time. However, his fellow diver Duncan Allcock, who was operating the deep sea exploration ship, was convinced that Lemons was still alive.

These events inspired the nonfiction filmmaker Alex Parkinson to make a documentary, also titled “Last Breath,” in 2019, which was composed of archive footage taken from inside the ship and retrospective interviews conducted with each of the divers. The new version of “Last Breath” is a fictional recreation of the same story; Finn Cole stars as Lemons,...

Last Breath has landed a digital release date. Co-written and directed by Alex Parkinson as a remake of his 2019 documentary of the same name, the new survival thriller follows the true story of a team of seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements and race against time to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface. The movie stars Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis, Mark Bonnar, MyAnna Buring, and Josef Altin.

Now, Last Breath will be available to rent or purchase on digital platforms starting tomorrow, March 18. It will also be released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 29. Bonus features include a gag reel, feature commentary with co-writer/director Alex Parkinson and co-writer/producer David Brooks, and "Into the Deep: Making Last Breath," which invites audiences to join Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, and filmmakers in a deep dive into the making of the real-life thriller.

Universal Pictures’ spy thriller Black Bag leads the way for new releases in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as Warner Bros’ Opus and Studiocanal’s In the Lost Lands also open.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh,Black Bagopens in 650 cinemas, up from Soderbergh’s last film Presence which debuted in 478 sites earlier this year. That title opened with a mild £292,058 for Warner Bros, ending its run on £825,587 total.

Black Bag will be aiming much higher with the help of strong reviews, a London-set premise and a starry ensemble led by Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. The duo play husband and...

2025's Last Breath, directed by Alex Parkinson and starring Woody Harrelson, Finn Cole, and Simu Liu, tells the harrowing story of Chris Lemons, a diver who falls to the bottom of the North Sea while fixing a gas line. As Chris runs out of oxygen, it's a race against time to save his life. Last Breath is not only a tense film, but it's also one based on what really happened to the actual Chris Lemons, as shown in the 2019 documentary also titled Last Breath. Hollywood loves making movies based on real-life disasters, but the crew behind the filmresisted the urge to make an exaggerated film filled with CGI to tell a more melodramatic story. Instead, Last Breath's story stays simple and immediate by making nearly everything the audience sees so very real.

Warner Bros.’ “Mickey 17” claimed the top spot at the U.K. and Ireland box office in its opening weekend, earning £2.1 million ($2.7 million), according to Comscore.

The sci-fi thriller from director Bong Joon Ho, starring Robert Pattinson, made a solid debut, though it faced strong competition from holdover hit “Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.”

Universal’s “Bridget Jones” sequel continued its remarkable run, landing in second place with $2.6 million in its fourth weekend. The film has now amassed $52.2 million, making it one of the biggest releases of the year so far.

True Brit Entertainment’s “Marching Powder” opened in third with $1.3 million. The film marks the long-anticipated reunion of director Nick Love and lead Danny Dyer after 2007’s “Outlaw.” The filmmakers indicate that the film – a comedy-drama about addiction, violence and happy endings told through individuals with real lived experience – is on track to gross the equivalent of is...

Movies like Last Breath don't really stick around at the box office for very long, especially these days, when they'd normally be released on a streaming platform. But Last Breath has probably earned some excellent publicity for itself ahead of its inevitable streaming debut, thanks to its solid reviews and sturdy box office performance so far. Starring Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu, alongside Finn Cole and Cliff Curtis, Last Breath opened wide this past weekend, when it generated just under $8 million and finished second on the domestic charts.

Peaky Blinders, the show which ran for six seasons on BBC in the UK and is streaming on Netflix in the US, will soon be coming back to screens. With the movie announced in December 2023 as a follow-up to the series, titled The Immortal Man, fans have been clamoring for details for the return of their favorite Brummie-based criminals to the screen.

After months of production updates and casting announcements of returning and new characters, series creator Steven Knight has given fans some major updates on the progress of the film. Firstly, that it will have a full theatrical release and, secondly, according to Knight, the first edit is "mind blowingly good." Knight seems pretty sure of this too, as he told The Playlist while speaking about his show A Thousand Blows.

"It was never promoted massively, but people just found it and told each other about it," he said of the show.

Everyone's favorite street gang from Peaky Blinders is getting the respect it deserves, at last. The acclaimed BBC series (that many Americans saw thanks to Netflix) was last seen on screens all the way back in 2022, and since then, fans have been clamoring for more. Though the sixth season was also confirmed to be its last, creator Steven Knight spent most of 2024 hard at work on a cinematic sequel to the Cillian Murphy-starring show. And now we know that not only is the release of that movie nigh, it's going to get a theatrical release, too.

While speaking with The Playlist's TV podcast, Bingeworthy, Knight announced that the "mind-blowingly good" movie will end up on the big screen before it hits the stream scene. It's an exciting, though not fully anticipated move, given the fact that it is a co-production with Netflix. But thanks to the show's incredibly large...

Last Breath tells the harrowing story of three deep-sea divers thrust into an incredibly treacherous repair mission. Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole portray real-life divers Duncan Pollock, Dave Yuasa, and Chris Lemmons. The Alex Parkinson-directed feature (inspired by a documentary that was also directed by Parkinson) focuses on the three men who couldn’t have offered a better cast. I’ve always been fascinated by the deep blue, from Jaws to Deep Blue Sea. And this story can be just as frightening, with no monster shark or other nasty. This proves once again that the elements can be our most deadly enemy.

I recently shared a very fun chat with Harrelson, Liu, and Cole. The second I was connected to the guys, the three actors appeared to be having a great press day. I’ve had the joy of speaking to Mr. Harrelson on several occasions, and...

With “Last Breath,” Alex Parkinson — already an acclaimed documentarian behind such features as the Emmy-nominated “Lucy, the Human Chimp” (2021), “Living With Leopards” (2024) and, yes, “Last Breath” (2018) — makes his narrative feature film debut working with stars Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole.

But the road to adapting his own documentary into the Focus Features release, which hit theaters Friday, was a bit bumpier than one might think.

“When the documentary came out, the U.K. producers, they showed it to the father and son team of Paul and David Brooks, and they loved the documentary, and they wanted to turn into a feature,” Parkinson recalled to TheWrap. “And obviously when that came up, I thought, ‘Well, it’d be great if I could direct that.’ And I was told, ‘There’s absolutely no way on earth you can do that because you’re a documentarian.’ It’s a very rare thing to do.

On Monday March 3 2025, NBC broadcasts The Kelly Clarkson Show!

Season 6 Episode 101 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show” promises to be an exciting hour of entertainment. Guest host Simu Liu takes the stage, bringing his charm and energy to the show. Known for his role in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” Liu is sure to engage the audience with his unique perspective and humor.

In this episode, Kelly Clarkson’s popular segment “Kellyoke” features the song “Laredo.” Fans can look forward to a heartfelt performance that showcases Clarkson’s powerful vocals. This segment has become a favorite, and “Laredo” is expected to resonate with many.

The episode also welcomes Woody Harrelson and Finn Cole as special guests. They will join Liu for a segment titled “Scenes and Stories,” where they will share behind-the-scenes tales and insights from their careers. Their conversation is likely to be both entertaining and enlightening.

Peaky Blinders star Finn Cole has looked back on a huge change for his character Michael Gray in the show's final season. The backbone of the final episodes revolved around a gang war between Michael and cousin Tommy Shelby.

Michael was initially portrayed in the historical crime drama as a loyal lieutenant for Tommy, though he slowly grew resentful of his cousin's rule. In Peaky Blinders' final season, Michael vowed to kill Tommy in revenge for landing him in prison on a drug charge. Cole recently told The Hollywood Reporterthat he doesn't think writer Steven Knight planned for the cousins to go to war, but had to change scripts following the 2021 death of cast member Helen McCrory, who played Michael's mother Polly Gray.

Finn Cole Discusses Changes to Peaky Blinders' Final Season

Peaky Blinders Creator Reveals if Netflix Sequel Will End the Franchise

Steven Knight addresses the future of the...

Oscar weekend was a bust at the box office this year.

Overall domestic revenue is estimated to come in between $56 million and $57 million, the lowest by a long shot in at least a decade, according to ComScore. This excludes the year the awards show was delayed to early April because of the pandemic and as theaters were still struggling to come back online. Over Oscar weekend in 2021, combined revenue hit $57.2 million over the April 4-6 frame.

The reason for this year’s drought? A lack of new event product and the much-debatad performance of Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World. And nearly all of the top Oscar nominees are now available in the home, or long done with their theatrical runs.

Brave New World had no trouble staying atop the chart in its third outing with $15 million for a domestic total of $163.7 million $341.8 million globally. The lingering question — can...

“Captain America: Brave New World” kept its box office crown for the third weekend in a row, earning $15 million for a first place finish. Its muted victory comes as Hollywood prepares to celebrate itself at the Oscars on Sunday, bringing an end to one of the most tumultuous awards seasons in recent memory.

Despite topping the charts, the Marvel and Disney adventure has struggled to match the success of previous entries in the MCU. It will end the weekend having grossed $163.7 million domestically, a sizable figure for most movies, though a disappointment for this blue chip franchise. “Brave New World” has benefitted from a lack of competition, having primarily faced off against much lower budgeted indie releases. Globally, the superhero sequel, which cost $180 million to make and tens of millions more to market, has earned $341.8 million.

Focus Features’ “Last Breath” debuted to $7.8 million, capturing second place. The survival thriller tells...

Sunday might be billed as Hollywood’s biggest night, but it certainly won’t be outside of the Oscars ceremony. As the town readies for the last evening of awards season, theaters are seeing another muted weekend. Focus Features’ underwater thriller “Last Breath” is projecting a measured opening at $7.3 million. Meanwhile, Disney’s “Captain America: Brave New World” is expected to maintain No. 1 for the third weekend in a row, despite quickly losing momentum among moviegoers.

“Last Breath” dived into $3 million across Friday and preview screenings from 3,018 venues. The survival thriller, about a real rescue operation by deep sea divers, is projected to earn $7.3 million through its opening frame. Alex Parkinson directs a cast that includes Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu and Finn Cole, adapting from his own 2019 documentary of the same name. Focus acquired distribution rights last summer.

Reviews have been positive for “Last Breath” and audience sentiment is positive,...

The new movie Last Breath, based on a true story, is now in theaters and fans will likely want to know if they should stick around for something after the credits.

Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole lead the heart-pounding film that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface.

Many movies these days, especially ones that are part of a franchise, will include extra footage at the end to tease future installments or to give audiences some bonus content.

So, do you need to stick around after Last Breath?

Keep reading to find out if you need to wait for a post-credits scene…

We can confirm that No, there is no post-credits scene during the movie Last Breath, so feel free to leave the theater right when the movie ends without having to worry about missing anything.

The domestic box office could be gasping for air this weekend as moviegoers play catch-up for the Sunday Oscars ceremony at home while theater owners try to keep their heads above water. Focus Features, whose Pope-oriented thriller Conclave could give the studio its first Best Picture Oscar this weekend, is keeping its head above water at the box office with the release of Last Breath, which earned $1 million in Thursday previews. The intense underwater feature, starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole, plumbed the depths of 2,475 theaters on Thursday. However, it could remain in the single digits throughout the weekend.

Make sure you check out our review for Last Breath here.

Meanwhile, analysts expect Marvel’s latest superhero spectacle, Captain America: brave New World, to earn around $14M, as it remains in the top spot for its third consecutive weekend. Marvel’s political thriller starring Anthony Mackie as Captain America...

Most normal humans had no idea what saturation diving was until Richard da Costa and Alex Parkinson’s 2019 documentary Last Breath. The film recounts the true story of Chris Lemons, a saturation diver whose umbilical snapped 300 feet below the surface of the North Sea while repairing an oil rig. Although he only had about five minutes of oxygen left in his emergency tank, he spent over 35 minutes lying motionless at the bottom of the sea until he was picked up by his shipmates.

Parkinson’s documentary taught the world two very important lessons: One is that saturation divers, who work at perilous depths of up to 1000 feet while living in a tiny capsule for weeks at a time, are insane. The other is that the dangers of saturation diving, performed mostly for the gas and oil industries, are the biggest reasons to just forget this whole gas thing and hand everyone an Ev.

Peaky Blinders vet Finn Cole has finally addressed his absence in Netflix’s upcoming sequel movie to the acclaimed BBC drama. For five seasons of the Cillian Murphy-led gangster series, Cole portrayed the role of Michael Gray, who was first introduced in Season 2 as Polly Gray’s long-lost son.

During a recent interview with THR, Cole shared his reaction to the Peaky Blinders movie, revealing that he’s excited to watch it as a fan for the first time. He also confirmed that fans won’t see his character make an appearance as one of the ghosts that has been haunting Thomas Shelby, which was something he has struggled with since the first season.

"I’d love to say that the ghost of Michael comes back, but no, I don’t know anything about the movie," he said. "It seems like there’s a whole new cast, and I...

February flies by, bringing us closer to spring and a final nod to winter. With the new month comes an exciting and diverse selection of movies to stream or see in theaters. Moviegoers can choose between Last Breath, a thriller based on a true deep-sea accident, or the dark comedy with social commentary, My Dead Friend Zoe. For those staying in, the anime fantasy The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is now on Max after a rocky theatrical run, or they can head to Netflix for the thrilling action of Demon City.

Below, you will find our top picks of what you should be checking out for the first weekend of March 2025, followed by a full list of new titles available.

'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim' (2024) Stream on Max

Your Ratingclose10 stars9 stars8 stars7 stars6 stars5 stars4 stars3 stars...

Plot: A diver (Finn Cole) is trapped 100 meters under the sea with no light, heat and only thirty minutes of breathable oxygen – leaving his two colleagues (Simu Liu and Woody Harrelson) with only a short window of time to save him.

Review: Last Breath is a dramatization of a 2019 documentary by Alex Parkinson. The documentary used footage recorded on body cams to depict the harrowing deep sea rescue of a diver who became trapped when conducting repairs on a pipeline 330 feet below the surface of the North Sea. Parkinson has returned to direct the feature version, and it’s a taut, lean, true-to-life thriller that proves to be an immersive experience for viewers.

Running a no-nonsense ninety minutes, Parkinson’s film wastes no time getting to the meat of the story, with much of the rescue taking place in real-time. It’s extremely well-photographed, scored and edited and boasts three solid leads in Simu Liu,...

The job description “professional diver” doesn’t do justice to what Chris Lemons did for a living. The 32-year-old native of Edinburgh was part of an elite group of aquanauts known as saturation divers, who were responsible for fixing and maintaining the 20,000 miles of pipeline that rest on the ocean floor. He often descended to depths up to 10,000 feet below the surface, in freezing temperatures and highly pressurized environments. It is rightfully considered one of the single most dangerous gigs on the planet (next to firefighters, cobra tamers, and being...

Based on a real-life incident in 2012, Last Breath details the desperate attempt to rescue a diver trapped hundreds of feet underwater in the North Sea. This is the first fiction feature for director Alex Parkinson, who began his career in television as an editor. Since then, he's made documentaries for National Geographic, the BBC, and HBO Max. More important, Parkinson co-directed (with Richard da Costa) a documentary version of Last Breath in 2019. That film used archival footage and sound to recreate an accident involving diver Chris Lemons (played by Finn Cole), trapped underwater with limited oxygen. He was rescued by his partners David Yuasa (Simu Liu) and Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson). Parkinson's experience on the documentary gave him a head-start in covering the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

At first glance, a narrative remake of an already dramatic documentary centered around the life-and-death struggles of three deep-sea divers might seem like an ill-conceived notion, but Alex Parkinson’s dramatic rendition of Last Breath somehow manages to not only capture, but heighten, the exhilaration of its predecessor and prove itself to be a fairly hefty thriller in its own right.

The story follows the exploits of a group of deep-sea divers who have been hired to repair the damaged portions of the miles of underwater pipelines hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. This particular job goes south when Finn (Chris Lemons) finds himself trapped in the depths of the ocean as his crewmates – Duncan (Woody Harrelson) and Dave (Simu Liu) – try desperately to save him before he runs out of oxygen.

Director Alex Parkinson does wonders adapting the 2019 documentary of the same title that he co-directed with...

(l-r.) Finn Cole stars as Chris Lemons, Woody Harrelson as Duncan Allcock and Simu Liu as Dave Yuasa Last Breath, a Focus Features release.

Credit: Mark Cassar / © 2024 Focus Features LLC Through Alex Parkinson’s direction Last Breath becomes an intense emotional journey that confronts audiences with the dangers of deep-sea diving. The film depicts an actual near-fatal North Sea event by combining technical precision and human emotion to deliver a gripping cinematic experience.

The film succeeds at creating intense emotional engagement through its powerful tension-building. The saturation diving world appears claustrophobic and perilous as viewers dive into its atmosphere right from the beginning. The film showcases stunning cinematography with its underwater visuals that beautifully express the deep sea’s immense scale and its frightening solitude.

The performances are uniformly strong. Woody Harrelson displays a solid performance as the seasoned “Sat Daddy,” Duncan Allcock, while Simu Liu and Finn Cole match...

“Last Breath” is a new live action ‘survival thriller’, directed by Alex Parkinson, starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis and Djimon Hounsou, releasing February 28, 2025 in theaters:

“…based on a documentary, ‘Deep Breath’, is a true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers…

“…as they battle raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

So, did you have that one friend, or perhaps a family member, that drones endlessly about their ‘soul-sucking” occupation? Well, here’s the film that just might quiet them down. The team profiled really deals with life and death as they plunge into the deep, dark murky depths. Yes, it’s another tale set at sea, but it’s not merely a “rehash” of basic cable TV reality shows like “The Deadliest Catch”. And yes, it is indeed inspired by a true story of survival. The filmmakers really put you alongside these working class “daredevils”. And it all makes you wonder what you would do and how you would feel knowing that you might soon be taking your Last Breath.

That “profiled team” is a trio of men who work in “saturation diving”. They’ve got to do repair work on oil pipelines at the bottom of the ocean, for...

In Last Breath, Finn Cole talks about how close the actors became on set in a very confined space, even when there was work to be done. And since Simu has so many workout-intensive movies on his schedule, he talks about the motivation to keep in a certain kind of shape. For this film, it happened to be a big part of his character’s life. And he tells you this all while Woody Harrelson can’t keep his admiration to himself.

Last Breath is a heart-pounding film that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. Based on a true story, Last Breath is an electrifying story about teamwork, resilience, and a race against time to do the impossible.

Finn Cole, Woody Harrelson, and Simu Liu in ‘Last Breath’ (Photo Credit: Mark Cassar © 2024 Focus Features LLC)

Deep sea diving ranks as one of the world’s most hazardous occupations. Back in 2012, Chris Lemons faced certain death while doing his job as one. Lemons’ life-or-death encounter unfolds in the dramatic film Last Breath.

The movie opens with Chris (Finn Cole) telling his fiancée, Morag (Bobby Rainsbury), that he’s going on a month-long deep-sea dive. Attempting to soothe his worried bride-to-be, he compares his job to being an astronaut but underwater, a comparison that fails to ease her fears.

Chris, along with his friend, veteran diver Duncan (Woody Harrelson), and no-nonsense diver Dave (Simu Liu), undertakes a saturation dive to repair a pipeline in the North Sea. The job should be straightforward and routine. But when the support ship gets hit with a storm, it loses power to the engines.

Fans of Peaky Blinders will revisit this world in an upcoming follow-up feature film from series creator Steven Knight. The Immortal Man is an "epic continuation of the multi-award-winning gangster saga, set in the lawless streets of Birmingham in the 1900s," says Netflix, where the movie will stream. While some cast members like Cillian Murphy will return, others won't. Finn Cole played Michael Gray in the series, and in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor confirmed he won't be in the sequel film. "I'd love to say that the ghost of Michael comes back, but no, I don’t know anything about the movie," Cole said, revealing why the character won't return after his fate in the final season of Peaky Blinders. He expressed his excitement about the upcoming film, saying:...

Peaky Blinders was dealt a huge blow before the sixth and final season premiered. The show lost Helen McCrory after the actress died of cancer in 2021. Being a powerful presence in the show as Aunt Polly, the final season had to pivot with changes made to the script to accommodate the loss. Finn Cole played Michael Gray in the series, and in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter while promoting his new film, Last Breath, the actor reflected on how McCrory's death changed the show's direction. "Polly dying when she did in the story really fueled Michael’s revenge arc. That was a huge part of where Michael was coming from, and it felt believable to me," Cole said, referencing the fulfillment of Polly's prophecy about Thomas and Michael. "Had Polly been in season six, then maybe we’d still be doing more seasons today,” the actor postulated. He discussed...

The opening of Last Breath, a grim scene of a deep sea saturation diver spasming from oxygen deprivation at the bottom of the ocean, signals a nail-biting survival thriller ahead. That Last Breath is also based on the 2019 documentary of the same name, which in turn details the 2012 account of a major saturation diving accident in the North Sea, further suggests a gripping watch centered around a frantic rescue facing impossible odds. As the film then rewinds to establish the events that lead up to this harrowing scene, however, what should’ve been an intense, breathless scenario instead becomes flattened by its broad, detached documentarian approach to illuminating a rarely observed yet highly dangerous job.

Tenured divers Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson) and David Yuasa (Simu Liu) are teamed with relative newcomer Chris Lemons (Finn Cole) on a routine assignment to maintain a pipeline at the bottom of the ocean nearly 100 meters deep.

So long as humanity's endeavors push toward uncertain, rutty terrain, the Survival Disaster film will have plenty of ammunition to barrage moviegoing audiences. The fertile genre has proven quite adaptive, offering services to scenarios both real and imagined. Of the former, Cast Away and All is Lost have pit Tom Hanks and Robert Redford against the forces of nature with a ring of plausibility, although the plots are entirely of fictive devisement; of the latter, Titanic is a true event chucked into a sugar factory, finding more interest during its 3hr15min runtime in the cross-class romance of fictional persons Jack and Rose than real-world individuals. Somewhere between is the based-on-a-true-story scenario that plays close to the genuine article, focusing on the individuals who endured the unthinkable, with an (in)appropriate dusting of screenwriter magic to bring latent themes to the fore and amplify interpersonal relations. Of these films, there's The Perfect Storm,...

There’s a certain kind of true-life logistical rescue drama — Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13” is the granddaddy of them — that makes you realize how larded with theatrical devices most movies really are. “Last Breath” is an undersea suspense thriller based on a saturation-diving accident that took place off the coast of Scotland in 2012. It’s a movie about life-and-death predicaments, heroic actions, and the terror of being trapped in the icy black water 300 feet below the surface of the ocean.

Yet as I watched it, I kept thinking that if it were a made-up piece of Hollywood product, it would need a villain — a saboteur, perhaps, or maybe a ship’s captain who valued corporate profits over human life. “Last Breath” has none of that. The film is only 93 minutes long, and it’s a compact tale that never strays from its central situation. That’s what’s effective about it.

People who go through harrowing experiences of survival should look on the bright side. In the not-too-distant future, a good-looking movie star will likely be playing you on the big screen. That probably wasn’t going through the heads of the three central figures depicted in Last Breath, about the desperate efforts to rescue a deep-sea diver trapped below the water’s surface without oxygen. But they can take satisfaction that their story has been grippingly told in this taut adventure thriller, which admirably pares down its story to the bare essentials.

Unlike many films of this type, Last Breath — based on a similarly titled 2019 documentary from the same director, Alex Parkinson — doesn’t waste any time getting to the main event. There’s a brief set-up, in which we’re introduced to the youngest diver, Chris Lemons (Finn Cole, Peaky Blinders, Animal Kingdom), who says goodbye to his nervous...

Last Breath tells the story of the miraculous journey to save a diver on a mission gone wrong. It’s one of those schlocky survival thriller films with an ending about as obvious as its dialogue and without a clear sense of artistic style. With two pretty big names attached to it without a whole lot to do on their own and a story that’s about as generic as it can get, this is the quintessential February release: a film without much to keep it memorable but just enough action to be moderately exciting.

Last Breath Review

Adapted from the 2019 documentary of the same name, Last Breath is a recreation of a 2012 diving accident far larger than life. If you weren’t aware, large oil lines run through the ocean’s depths. To keep that oil running and keep nations powered, brave divers go on missions to maintain them once a year.

To paraphrase and/or completely misquote Karl Marx: History repeats itself first as documentary, then as a mid-budget survival thriller. “Little Dieter Needs to Fly” was adapted into “Rescue Dawn.” “The Rescue” was adapted into “Thirteen Lives.” And now, in that strange tradition, an incident that was first expressed through interview testimony and harrowing surveillance footage has been smoothed into a simple but suspenseful genre exercise, as Alex Parkinson adapts his 2019 documentary “Last Breath” into a mid-budget survival thriller of the same name.

Creatively redundant? Perhaps. But some things are so unbelievable that they only seem to make sense as a Hollywood (or Hollywood-adjacent) movie, and the gap between fact and fiction can occasionally be too wide to cross without a middle-man to help launder the truth. The story of saturation diver Chris Lemons is definitely one of them.

In September 2012, the young Mr. Lemons was trying to repair...

Perhaps it makes sense that Alex Parkinson’s feature debut would simply be a flip of the dimensions of his usual fare. The documentarian has long made a career out of the kind of nature documentary that is more about the people said nature affects than the nature itself. As in his 2024 Living With Leopards, Parkinson employs a curious conglomerate of archival and surveillance footage, first-hand accounts, interviews and, most pertinently, re-enactments, in apparent attempt to dramatize how the natural world can inspire community, chosen family and unusually strong bonds.

So went his 2019 documentary Last Breath, co-directed with Richard Da Costa, which chronicled the strange survival story of Chris Lemons, a saturation diver who somehow lived through nearly 40 minutes of oxygen deprivation in the North Sea, off the coast of Aberdeenshire in Scotland. The 2025 Last Breath is its Hollywood mirror: a slightly fictionalized account of the same incident made with a documentary feel.

Contrary to its title, Last Breath was a breath of fresh air for Finn Cole.

The English actor — who’d previously enjoyed a steady diet of serialized crime drama via Peaky Blinders and Animal Kingdom — appreciated the opportunity to cleanse his palate in Alex Parkinson’s biographical survival thriller. Last Breath is based on the filmmaker’s own 2019 documentary of the same name, and it chronicles the miraculous rescue effort of saturation diver, Chris Lemons (Cole), in 2012.

Cole no longer had to contend with scheming crime families like the Shelbys and Codys, but Last Breath was not without its own unique elements of danger. During the film’s summer 2023 production, a lost submersible, which was touring the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic, made headlines around the world until its implosion was eventually confirmed. The incident killed all five people aboard the Titan, and while Last Breath mostly worked within...

Simu Liu, Finn Cole, and Woody Harrelson are stepping out for the premiere of their action flick!

The co-stars posed for photos together at the premiere of Last Breath on Tuesday (February 25) held at AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York City.

Also in attendance at the premiere included the movie’s director Alex Parkinson, Simu‘s girlfriend Allison Hsu, and Justin Theroux.

Here’s a synopsis: A heart-pounding film that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. Based on a true story, Last Breath is an electrifying story about teamwork, resilience, and a race against time to do the impossible.

Last Breath hits theaters on Friday, February 28. Watch the trailer here!

Click through the gallery inside for 15+ pictures of the stars at the premiere…...

Though no major studio ever planned this, the Oscar ceremony over the last three years post Covid fell on a weekend when there’s was a No. 1 film to brag about at the box office.

Last year Oscar weekend had Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 opening to $57.9M, while 2023 had Paramount/Spyglass’ Scream VI opening to a franchise domestic record of $44.4M, while 2022 (when the ceremony fell on a March 27) saw the return of the rom com with Paramount’s Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum movie Lost City posting a $30.4M start.

At a time when we want people to return to movie theaters, while also watching the Oscars, having a solid No. 1 opening assists in propping and highlighting the motion picture industry.

But not this year.

Get a blankie and a pillow, for here’s how the weekend is going to shake out:

The third weekend...

No official order is needed to urge fans of great drama and action to watch Peaky Blinders, whether you’re new to the series or getting reacquainted ahead of the upcoming feature film.

Created by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Steven Knight (Maria and All the Light We Cannot See), Peaky Blinders takes place in Birmingham, England, in the wake of World War I, and follows the Peaky Blinders street gang, led by Shelby family patriarch Tommy Shelby (Oscar winner Cillian Murphy). For six seasons, Tommy and the rest of the Shelby clan took extreme measures to expand their criminal footprint, all while dealing with powerful fictional allies and true historical events.

Murphy, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, and Finn Cole helped anchor Peaky Blinders throughout, but Tom Hardy, Annabelle Wallis, Sam Neill, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Sam Claflin, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Adrien Brody were among the decorated actors to have memorable runs on the series.

“Last Breath” is a new live action ‘survival thriller’, directed by Alex Parkinson, starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis and Djimon Hounsou, releasing February 28, 2025 in theaters:

“…based on a documentary, ‘Deep Breath’, is a true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers…

“…as they battle raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Too often, Hollywood rips a news event from the headlines and attempts to add schmaltz, melodrama, and superficiality to transform it into a straightforward story that offers little surprise to an audience. While the notion that something is “based on a true story” used to have some degree of meaning, the phrase has lost all value given how inauthentic many of these quasi-biopics feel. A lack of realism is certainly not something that the survival thriller “Last Breath” (2025) can be accused of. The film was directed by Alex Parkinson, who previously helmed a documentary feature of the same name that centered on the same subject.

The story of “Last Breath” defied science and logic, as it would have easily been deemed to be an implausible narrative had it been presented as a work of fiction. In 2012, the deep sea diver Chris Lemons was dragged to the bottom of the sea...

“Last Breath” is a new live action ‘survival thriller’, directed by Alex Parkinson, starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis and Djimon Hounsou, releasing February 28, 2025 in theaters:

“…based on a documentary, ‘Deep Breath’, is a true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers…

“…as they battle raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

A heart-pounding film that follows seasoned deep-sea divers as they battle the raging elements to rescue their crewmate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. Alex Parkinson’s film assembles Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole in a pulse-pounding survival thriller set deep underwater. Based on a harrowing true story, Last Breath honors the selflessness and perseverance of a team of divers whose lives changed forever when an accident strands one of their own deep beneath the surface of the North Sea.

Focus Features will release Last Breath in theaters nationwide on Friday, February 28th.

www.focusfeatures.com/last-breath

The St. Louis screening is Wednesday, February 26th at 7:00pm at B&b West Olive Creve Coeur 10.

Pass Link: http://focusfeaturesscreenings.com/hEpkE71909

Please arrive early as seating is not guaranteed.

Rated PG 13.

Woody Harrelson stars as Duncan Allcock in Last Breath, a Focus Features release.

Credit:...

“Last Breath” is a new live action ‘survival thriller’, directed by Alex Parkinson, starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis and Djimon Hounsou, releasing February 28, 2025 in theaters:

“…based on a documentary, ‘Deep Breath’, is a true story that follows seasoned deep-sea divers…

“…as they battle raging elements to rescue their crew mate trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean's surface…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Impact entrepreneur and Un Global Goals advocate Natasha Mudhar is making a mark with The World We Want Studios, a production banner that’s quickly assembling a slate of star-powered projects including Johnny Depp’s directorial effort “Modi” and Al Pacino-Jessica Chastain feature “Lear Rex.”

Mudhar’s journey into high-profile Hollywood productions began in 2013 through veteran producer Barry Navidi, Pacino’s longtime creative partner. “My journey with ‘Lear Rex’ and ‘Modi’ began when I was introduced to Al Pacino through Barry Navidi,” Mudhar tells Variety. “At the time, I worked closely with Barry on ‘An Evening with Pacino,’ Mr. Pacino’s sold-out London show. This collaboration allowed me to build a strong creative and business rapport with Barry, which eventually led to my involvement as co-producer for ‘Lear Rex’ and executive producer for ‘Modi.'”

“Our commissioning ethos is rooted in the belief that purpose-driven storytelling can be both engaging and commercially successful,...