In 2019, Alex Parkinson codirected Last Breath, a documentary about a crazy underwater accident. In 2025, Alex Parkinson directed Last Breath, a narrative version of his documentary about a crazy underwater accident. In 2029, Alex Parkinson will (probably) direct an animated version of the narrative version of the documentary about a crazy underwater accident.
The only reason to create a mildly fictionalized version of a real-life incident that you already made a nonfiction movie about is to zhuzh it up a bit. Doing so gives you the space to carve out a story that actual events didn’t lend itself to and develop characters that are richer and deeper. That is not the case with Last Breath (2025), which stays laser focused on the same general 40-minute period explored in Last Breath (2019) and gives us character beats like “this guy has a girlfriend,” “this guy is sort of quiet,” and “this guy is Woody Harrelson.”
That’s not to say Last Breath (2025) isn’t crisply made and authentically tense, only that it does nothing that watching Last Breath (2019) couldn’t do, other than get people to watch it who won’t watch documentaries. Because again, this can’t be stressed enough, there is no story in this new version. Chris (Finn Cole) goes down to fix an underwater gas pipe with fellow diver, Dave (Simu Liu), and their supervisor, Duncan (Harrelson). It goes sub-optimally.
The divers are tethered to a pod-thing (the technical term) that is tethered to a big boat (more maritime jargon). The big boat has an oopsie in a storm. Its captain (Cliff Curtis) is like, “Oopsie!” Chris is in a ton of danger, which we knew was going to happen because he’s “guy who has girlfriend.” His only hope is Dave, who we know will step up to help him because he’s a good person even if he is sort of quiet. Duncan is Woody Harrelson.
What happened to these actual people is 100% mind-blowing. What happens in the movie is like 50% mind-blowing. Maybe 35%… In part that’s because a 40-minute incident doesn’t really warrant a full-length running time (even at a brief 95 minutes). It’s like when a friend takes 40 minutes to tell you what would be a hilarious/interesting five-minute story, and you want to die so much you can’t put it into words. Everyone else has ADHD too now, right?
Last Breath (2025) isn’t that grating, if only because the actors do a remarkable amount with characters that can be reduced to three-word descriptions. Cole has a real Heath Ledger vibe going on. Liu is so inherently likeable that having him play a big tough stoic meanie for a few minutes is fun. And Woody Harrelson remains Woody Harrelson. Look, it’s not that Parkinson needed to make some ridiculous embellishments and turn this into over-the-top nonsense. He just, you know, didn’t need to make a movie he already made.
This feels like a good time to remind folks that documentaries are cool. It is insane that they aren’t more popular. We need to rebrand them the same way that “radio shows” became “podcasts.” That term came from smooshing iPod and broadcast. Anyone have a clever portmanteau that will let grown-ups watch nonfiction films and save Alex Parkinson some time? We watch them on streaming services now and they’re reality-based, so “streality?” Is that something?
Anyway, Last Breath (2025) is fine, but we’d probably have a smarter country if everyone watched Last Breath (2019).
Grade = B-
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Carla Hay at Culture Mix says “There’s nothing groundbreaking about this drama, but it has enough to keep viewers interested. Even though the outcome is very predictable, Last Breath manages to build a certain level of suspense that is admirable, thanks to adept filmmaking and credible performances.”
MontiLee Stormer at MovieReelist says “For a film I didn’t think I was going to like, I found Last Breath to be enjoyably nerve-wracking.”
Travis Hopson of Punch Drunk Critics says “Cole, Harrelson, and Liu do a lot with stock archetypal characters for the survival genre. While frequently loaded up with bulky gear and heavy helmets, we latch on to their simple humanity and friendship in a very short amount of time.”