Last Breath (12A)
Directed by Alex Parkinson
★★★ 

 
 
THIS hair-raising survival thriller recounts the remarkable true story of seasoned deep-sea divers who in September 2012 fought the raging elements to go rescue their crewmate who was trapped hundreds of feet below the surface of the North Sea. 
 
Directed by Alex Parkinson, it is based on the documentary he co-directed with Richard da Costa in 2019 chronicling the same event. 
 
This dramatisation follows saturation divers Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu), and Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson) as they embark on a routine expedition to fix gas pipes under the sea. A computer error set their ship above adrift while Lemons’ umbilical cable connecting him to his oxygen, electricity, and communications became severed. With only 10 minutes of oxygen left it became a race against time to save him. 
 
Parkinson delivers a tense and harrowing underwater drama which turns into a search and recovery once Lemons’s oxygen runs out. Cole (Peaky Blinders) gives a solid performance as the keen young diver with a fiancée waiting back home, playing opposite Liu as the moody and silent veteran diver and Harrelson as the old hand, who is on his last diving expedition having been retired by the company. Harrelson is the life and soul of the film providing the light relief although he and Liu look out of place in this drama. 
 
That said this is a film about resilience, teamwork and frankly witnessing a miracle as Lemons survived against all the odds having been without oxygen for almost half an hour.
 
It feels and looks like a made for TV film. It might be best to watch the documentary first. 

In cinemas March 14 

Sister Midnight (15)
Directed by Karan Kandhari
★★★★ 
 

A DISGRUNTLED and disillusioned newlywed discovers that her husband’s cramped one-room abode was not what she signed up for in this genre-bending comedy set in Mumbai. 
 
Radhika Apte gives a tour de force performance as an unapologetic, angry and foul-mouthed young woman lacking any domestic skills who develops feral tendencies as she rebels against her bumbling husband and their new married life. When he goes to work she is left in a depressing and swelteringly hot shack, plagued by nosy neighbours, and birds and goats who mysteriously appear from under her bed. 
 
Written and directed by Karan Kandhari this is a totally bonkers yet bold dark comedy drama which proves tricky to classify with its feminist undertones and blood sucking inferences. 
 
Yet Apte’s compelling Uma keeps you invested and watching as she attempts to escape her domestic hell by exploring the city and embracing her new found desires. It is surreal and keeps you guessing throughout. 

In cinemas March 14 

Opus (15)
Directed by Mark Anthony Green
★★★ 

A YOUNG music writer finds herself among a select group of journalists and influencers invited to the remote compound of a pop icon who mysteriously disappeared 30 years earlier in this audacious debut feature by Mark Anthony Green.
 
John Malkovich is clearly having the time of his life playing the nefarious and narcissistic Alfred Moretti who is surrounded by cult sycophants in this thriller which takes aim at celebrity culture. 
 
Ayo Edebiri is impressive as the keen and eager Ariel who soon realises you should never meet your heroes as she uncovers the dark and twisted truth behind Moretti’s invitation. Juliette Lewis is always great value and does not disappoint as a jaded journo. 
 
However the film does not live up to Malkovich’s virtuoso performance (which is a joy to behold) as Green bites off more than he can chew. But worth seeing for Malkovich alone. 

In cinemas March 14 

The Electric State 
Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo 
★★★ 

 
 
THE RUSSO BROTHERS are back with this dystopian sci fi adventure set in the aftermath of a robot uprising in an alternate version of the 1990s. 
 
It follows an orphaned teenager (Millie Bobby Brown) who teams up with a mysterious cartoon inspired robot, a smuggler (Chris Pratt) and his wisecracking sidekick (voiced by Anthony Mackie) in search of her younger brother (Woody Norman). 
 
They are joined by an enviable supporting voice cast which includes Woody Harrelson, Colman Domingo and Brian Cox as the colourful robots are exiled to the wilderness after their rebellion demanding civil rights. Meanwhile Stanley Tucci is clearly having a blast as the evil Ethan Skate, the mastermind behind the demise and the outlawing of the robots. 
 
While this isn’t the Russo brothers’ best work it is an entertaining film for all the family. 

Available on Netflix from March 14