{"id":610786,"date":"2026-05-29T18:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/610786\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T18:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:31:08","slug":"pressure-review-weathering-d-day-is-more-than-dad-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/610786\/","title":{"rendered":"Pressure review: Weathering D-Day is more than dad drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

The events of D-Day have shown up in a number of movies since it turned the tide on World War II. Steven Spielberg\u2019s Saving Private Ryan<\/a> remains the gold standard, but movies like<\/a> D-Day The Sixth Of June, The Longest Day, and Overlord each bottled up the intensity leading into that fateful day before spilling it out over a violent beach scene full of gunfire and bombs. But there\u2019s no other version of D-Day onscreen quite like writer-director-editor Anthony Maras\u2019 Pressure, a tension-fueled wartime thriller set in the crucial days and hours heading into the invasion of Normandy, all of which comes down to a weather report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James Stagg (Andrew Scott), Winston Churchill\u2019s highly recommended meteorologist, is called away from his pregnant wife in London to join the Allies for a top secret project. Within days, General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) plans to launch the largest sea invasion in history with the fate of hundreds of thousands souls and possibly the war at stake. He needs the clearest assurance that the weather conditions will be favorable to beat the Nazis. While Stagg is given the rank of Group Captain, Eisenhower\u2019s chosen meteorologist Irving Krick (Chris Messina) questions Stagg\u2019s methods and undermines his estimates with less-than-scientific historical readings. As time runs low to make the decision to either go or hold off on the invasion, Stagg faces mounting pressure from Eisenhower, Krick, and war-ready leaders like Bernard Montgomery (Damian Lewis) to stand aside and let them fight, but Stagg\u2019s readings say otherwise\u2014and as the lone voice of science in the room, he must defend his findings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who knew watching weather balloons flying up around the English coast could be so exhilarating? Under Maras\u2019 direction and his script with David Haig, Pressure is a surprisingly effective war thriller, full of the hallmarks of the genre with a palpable time crunch. With a propulsive score by Volker Bertelmann that incorporates what sounds like the deconstructed chimes of a clock, time feels as if it\u2019s moving faster and faster as the deadline approaches. This sensation is heightened by Maras\u2019 editing, stitching together scenes from the drama on the homefront, close-ups of young soldiers heading to battle, and colorized war footage in quick succession. While D-Day plays out on the shore, the suspense continues in England as many of the rank and file look at each other nervously, unsure if they made the right call to launch the attack, capturing the panic both in the battle and back at base.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Haig, who previously wrote the play and screen adaption for his World War I drama My Boy Jack, adapts his stage play for Pressure into an economical screenplay that\u2019s sharp and precise. In Pressure, the battle for D-Day is fought before the first boat hits the beach. The battle is one for science and the ability to make the final call. Each man wrestles for control with their motivations laid bare: Stagg knows he has data on his side, and must defend its validity or risk sending thousands to their doom; the cocky American Krick has his tried-and-true method, and refuses to be shown up by Stagg; Montgomery fears the Germans may be onto the plan, and wants to hurry the invasion before the Nazis can prepare for it; and Eisenhower, fresh off a haunting training operation gone horribly wrong, wants to avoid anymore senseless loss. The stakes are high, the players well-matched, and each ego clashes with desperation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Embodying these forces is the film\u2019s stellar ensemble, led by a resolute Andrew Scott as the stiff-lipped Stagg. At the height of stress between Stagg, Krick, and Eisenhower, there\u2019s a close-up of Scott\u2019s face as his character receives personally devastating news that focuses all the concentration of the moment into his face\u2014how he\u2019s holding back tears, keeping calm and carrying on for the sake of the mission. It\u2019s an extraordinary feat as impressive as any of the emotional screaming matches throughout the film. Scott\u2019s carefully crafted performance raises everyone\u2019s game. Messina is the perfect foil for Scott\u2019s concentrated, mild-mannered character, playing an overconfident extrovert unwilling to back down until the scientific results are staring back at him. As Eisenhower, Fraser doesn\u2019t disappear into the role, but he digs deep into the general\u2019s state of mind, plagued by recent failure and propelled by the need to exert his command over men like Montgomery, whom Lewis plays like a smooth operator, undermining both Stagg and Eisenhower to rush the operation as quickly as he can manifest it. Weathering the storm of male egos, Kerry Condon reasons with each man to work together as Kay, Eisenhower\u2019s Girl Friday who has her work cut out for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taking into account these favorable conditions, Pressure makes a pretty satisfying historical thriller out of an intimate battle between a few men. Buoyed by Maras and Haig\u2019s strong, lean script, Pressure is a great \u201cdad movie\u201d that isn\u2019t just for dads. It\u2019s a look at how weather had a role in the history books, and how information prevailed over bloodlust and wrongheaded precedents. In this political era, it\u2019s nice to see cooler, science-minded heads prevail.<\/p>\n

Director: Anthony Maras
Writer: David Haig, Anthony Maras
Starring: Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina, Damian Lewis
Release Date: May 29, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The events of D-Day have shown up in a number of movies since it turned the tide on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-610786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}