Pressure

I feel happy whenever I see Brendan Fraser. I've loved the actor ever since I saw The Mummy at the cinema when I was twelve, and I've always thought he has fantastic on-screen charisma and that he can actually act as well. His return to the big screen has been long-awaited, and his performance in the sad but somewhat overrated The Whale was actually quite brilliant. But this review isn't about his acting career; it's about a new Second World War drama, this time seen from a meteorological perspective.

I was going to write that it's the world's first meteorologist drama, but we do have Gore Verbinski's Nicolas Cage-led The Weather Man and surely several others. It's a profession that could do with a bit of a good word, given that most of humanity believes their job consists solely of licking their finger, holding it up to the sky, and guessing whether it's going to rain, hail, or blow a gale. It's not quite that simple though.

Pressure, summarised in a few sentences: "In the final hours before D-Day in 1944, the fate of the free world hangs by a thread. General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) and Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott) face a difficult, fateful choice - to launch the massive Operation Overlord, or risk losing the war altogether. Stagg is the RAF's chief meteorologist, and when he delivers a critical forecast of stormy weather over the English Channel, it sparks a tense conflict with the Allied leaders - should the invasion be postponed?"

Eisenhower feels the strain in Pressure.

Does that give you a thrill or does the angle sound dull? To me, it stands out, and I love WWII dramas, so it was almost a given that I'd watch it. Anthony Maras is the director and made his feature film debut in 2018 with Hotel Mumbai, starring Dev Patel in the lead role, where that film was also based on real events.

In Pressure, Fraser gives a superb performance as Eisenhower, who has the final say on whether or not to go ahead with D-Day, where everything hinges (something perhaps no one had anticipated, or which the audience hadn't even considered) on whether the weather will permit it. It's the tiniest of details that prove truly decisive, and Irving Krick, played by Chris Messina, feels belittled when his meteorological expertise, which relies almost exclusively on historical data, is questioned by the chief RAF meteorologist, Staff, played by Andrew Scott. He insists that they need to gather up-to-date weather data from virtually every corner of the world to carry out an in-depth analysis of exactly how the wind is blowing around Normandy, to determine whether a landing is even feasible or a pure suicide mission before a single shot has been fired.

Anyone who has given a presentation in a classroom knows how this feels.

Sometimes Scott is superb, sometimes a bit wooden, but in Pressure he does a fine job. Staff receives some unexpected assistance from Kay, played by Kerry Condon, who is Eisenhower's secretary, and here we have the film's only prominent female character, which in itself is hardly surprising. These rooms were reserved for men, as were large parts of the war machine.

Pressure is relatively short (100 minutes) but I think its length works in its favour. When the tension rises, it's very effective. For example, towards the end as the clock ticks down to a decision and we're treated to the classic montage of worried faces and suspenseful music. The same goes for the few war scenes that do appear, which are really well done. I would, however, have liked a bit more background and insight into the opening and fateful training mission, Operation Tiger, which apparently turned into a massacre. It's a really tense and well-crafted prologue, but I would have liked to see it developed further and explained in greater detail.

There are passages where the pace slows down and, at one point, my interest wanes slightly. Still, overall, the film has succeeded in creating real tension around the weather, a subject I'm fascinated by and which takes up so much space in everyday conversations. The performances and dialogue take it up a notch and I also like the emotional aspect which, without giving too much away, centres on Stagg's private life, where he actually suppresses his feelings and fears in an almost superhuman way in order to deliver data that could save thousands upon thousands of lives and prove decisive for the Allies' advance. It's beautiful and sad. Pressure is far from the best WWII film I've seen, but it offers an interesting perspective and is really well made.