|Everyone has their jokes when it comes to the weather, but I have seen that the accuracy of predicting the weather has increased tenfold since I was a child. In fact, a lot of people take for granted how accurate it has become, especially given how many businesses and parts of society who truly depend on the accuracy. Imagine what it was like before we had all of the technology we have and needed to rely on hand-written accounts historically to predict how the day would go. This is at the heart of the much-anticipated film, Pressure.
Directed by Anthony Maras (The Palace), the cast here includes Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina and Damian Lewis. Based on true events of the days leading up to D-Day, General Eisenhower (Fraser) calls upon James Stagg (Scott) from the UK, who is one of their leading meteorologists. With only three days until the scheduled invasion that would turn the tide (no pun intended) in World War II, he must work with other experts from around the world including Eisenhower’s close colleague in Irving Krick (Messina) to give a “go” or “no go” for the invasion’s planned date. Given how strong both of their personalities are, their predictions are vastly different, and both want the general to go with their recommendation as the roller coaster leaves the station that could be one of the biggest gambles in modern history.
Visually, this film works well. Most of it takes place in the military compound where the work, meetings, and debates take place and really nailed the time period in its presentation. When it comes to the acting, the entire cast is impressive, and even though there has been talk about Fraser’s portrayal of “Ike”, I thought he was great. My true shout out goes to Scott, who was spot on as a man under extreme stress who still stood by his decisions based on his experience. I know it is early in the year, but I would not be surprised if this film gets some nominations when the time comes.
At just under an hour and forty-five minutes, the pacing here was good and kept me interested for the entire length of Pressure. However, my issue here is that the marketing of this film is a bit of a bait-and-switch: the official trailer shows a lot of military action, but most of it is in said trailer, since as I mentioned earlier most of the film takes place in the compound. This is more of a “thinking man’s: film with a lot of data and analysis versus something like Saving Private Ryan. Again, I still did enjoy Pressure and will still recommend seeing it in a early bird matinee at the theaters.