Last Breath
Focus Features | Release Date: February 28, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFeb 28, 2025
It feels like a great throwback thriller, one of those movies viewers will still be discovering years from now. Try to see it on a big screen while you can. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicMeredith G. WhiteFeb 27, 2025
Between Parkinson's excellent visual storytelling and the entire cast, especially Cole, putting their all into performances that feel realistic, Last Breath is proof that keeping things real and simple produces some incredible work. Read full review
80
The TimesEd PottonMar 14, 2025
Cole and Liu are grippingly believable, despite doing much of their acting through helmet visors, while Harrelson provides much-needed levity. The subaquatic cinematography conveys the vastness and terror of the open ocean. Read full review
80
Time OutSophie Monks KaufmanMar 13, 2025
Last Breath depicts a workplace where instead of fabricated conflict coming from villainous colleagues, a team of people are battling with their own souls while under extreme duress. Their conscientious solidarity forms an undercurrent that breathes oxygen into the heart of this moving thriller. Read full review
80
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiFeb 27, 2025
Last Breath is a gritty, grounded thriller that knows how to keep us hooked. A stellar cast and a story told right keep this film afloat. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 27, 2025
Last Breath honours the constant possibility in work like this that the worst could happen at any moment — and that the line between living and dying is always frighteningly slender. Read full review
80
IGNEmma StefanskyFeb 27, 2025
In spite of all of its nail-biting close calls and harrowing footage from the actual rescue, it’s actually a lot of fun. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckFeb 27, 2025
Director Parkinson has lived with this story for so long now that he knows exactly how to ratchet up the tension and manages to make the action visually compelling even though much of it takes place in dark and murky underwater conditions. Read full review
80
The GuardianAdrian HortonFeb 27, 2025
Riveting, seamless, at points genuinely shocking, Last Breath exemplifies the possibilities of human collaboration – a feat that has stuck with me and, yes, took my breath away. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 28, 2025
Parkinson knowing this story backwards and forwards means he’s become an expert on how to tease out the suspense and tug at the heartstrings. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonFeb 27, 2025
This is a lean, fast-moving and effective movie, with an undersea world that is as vast and lonely as outer space. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 27, 2025
With a running time of just 92 minutes, “Last Breath” will keep you in its grip throughout. Just remember to inhale, and exhale. Slow, long, steady breaths. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonFeb 27, 2025
I doubt anyone will be too bothered by the lack of character depth. The audience for “Last Breath” is there for the dangerous dive developments. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshFeb 27, 2025
This sturdy, solid thriller underscores that at their core, survival stories are always stories of humanity’s best, and the impossible things we can achieve when we work together. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrFeb 27, 2025
It feels strange to want a movie to be longer, but in the case of Last Breath I was both desperate for it to end, for anxiety reasons, and also wanting more. Read full review
75
Original-CinLiz BraunFeb 26, 2025
This fictional recreation is wonderfully claustrophobic, but the storytelling does not include enough character development to leave a viewer fully invested. Read full review
70
The AtlanticDavid SimsMar 8, 2025
It would have been easy to inflate Last Breath’s action stakes to make them fun and absurd, but Parkinson’s nonfiction instincts as a filmmaker won’t really allow for that. I’m thankful for the meticulous realism that follows instead. Read full review
70
The Daily BeastNick SchagerFeb 28, 2025
What ultimately lingers more, however, is its portrait of the grit, determination, and sacrifice exhibited by these individuals—a stirring reminder that there’s nothing more noble than having your fellow man’s back. Read full review
70
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzFeb 28, 2025
The underwater cinematography, orchestrated by Nick Remy Matthews, is often startling, destined to make the dark box of a movie theatre all that more engagingly claustrophobic. And the ultimate story behind Last Breath is incredible, verging on the unbelievable. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineA.J. WeilerFeb 27, 2025
Overall, Last Breath is an exciting, fun, and immersive watch that does justice to the heroic stories of Chris Lemons and the crew members that raced to save his life. It is action packed, visually exciting, and sure to please diverse audiences seeking authentic, heartwarming excitement. Read full review
70
ColliderAidan KelleyFeb 27, 2025
While the documentary of the same name might be able to capture the more human elements better than any adaptation could, the technical marvel of this feature film's underwater sequences is well worth diving into. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 27, 2025
Last Breath delivers every incident with so much specificity that it’s like a cinematic piece of journalism. Yet it leaves you with a minor tingle of the uncanny. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubBrianna ZiglerFeb 27, 2025
A pulse-pounding, high concept bio-drama, Last Breath is a commendable technical feat, though its melodrama falls short. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichFeb 27, 2025
Last Breath is so taut — and the story it tells so remarkable — that you might just start to doubt even the most obvious of assumptions. That’s all the more impressive in a movie that is this happy to be hackneyed. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 3, 2025
Although I was suitably diverted by Last Breath, I couldn’t help but feel there was a missed opportunity to tell a more riveting story that, for whatever reason, the filmmakers chose not to pursue. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanFeb 27, 2025
Much like its characters, “Last Breath” simply goes about getting the job done, without fuss or fanfare. Maybe no higher praise is necessary. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsFeb 27, 2025
Instead of relishing the specific details of this story, you wind up enjoying its familiar pleasures and then maybe its creators’ proficient execution. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithFeb 28, 2025
Last Breath, which runs a compact 91 minutes, doesn’t feel like a finished film: The dialogue is strictly functional, and there is so little time for establishing character that none of the three principals really makes an impression. Read full review
50
LooperAlistair RyderFeb 27, 2025
The co-writer-slash-director's proximity to its real-life subjects means he can't put too much of an over-the-top Hollywood twist on the tale, but any intent to do justice to the reality of the story just left me wondering why he would want to tell it again if he weren't going to lean into the gloriously preposterous traits one would expect from the classic disaster movie. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'HaraMar 28, 2025
A curiously bloodless account of a real-life disaster that has moments of gripping tension punctuating long stretches of fatally understated business as usual. Read full review
40
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeFeb 28, 2025
Last Breath was made by someone who clearly connects with this material, but somewhere between the non-fiction and fiction versions, the emotional impact has been rendered unfathomable. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearFeb 28, 2025
The dramatized version simply floats, roils and plods forward as if being tugged dutifully along, ticking off checkpoints along the way. That IRL ending still reads as miraculous. Yet the whole thing feels still feels starved for creative oxygen. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisFeb 27, 2025
Last Breath is disappointingly shallow and fatally lethargic. Read full review
More From This Movie

65 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL