SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
While planning the invasion of Normandy in the summer of 1944, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill tells United States Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower (played by Brendan Fraser) to bring the UK’s best meteorologist, James Stagg (Andrew Scott), onto his team. Stagg, who’s wife is expecting, reluctantly agrees and is given the rank Group Captain despite Eisenhower already having a relationship with Lieutenant Colonel Irving P. Krick who has served as his lead meteorologist for decades. Despite sharing the same weather data, Krick and Stagg consistently disagree on the incoming forecast and how it will effect the planned invasion on June 5. Being the outranking officer, Stagg makes the decision to exclude Krick from his briefing as to eliminate confusion but Eisenhower wants the opinion of the man he trusts. Meanwhile, Eisenhower’s personal secretary, Captain Kay Summersby (Kerry Condon), does her absolute best to corral the chaos on behalf of her boss, the military and her own sanity. A few days later, when the two meteorologists are at the bitter end of their rope with each other, Stagg insists on delaying the attack while Krick insists on keeping the planned timeline. The defining moment of World War II is at stake — not to mention tens of thousands of lives — and Eisenhower, who just lost hundreds of American soldiers in the embarassment of Exercise Tiger just two months prior, has the difficult choice of whether or not the invasion is a go.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
PRESSURE will do for this generation what SAVING PRIVATE RYAN did for that generation. Not in the area of unforgettable graphic intensity but rather in giving audiences a curiosity to go learn about the role D-Day played in our world’s history.
This war — and this invasion, specifically — has been done so many times, the filmmakers deserve a lot of credit for finding a way to tell the story from a different angle. The angle of PRESSURE, of course, is how meteorology played a key role in the decision making process.
As far as the performances go, Scott is outstanding as Stagg, somehow bringing intensity and momentum to the even keel, hardly-ever-rattled character. And Condon is, once again, a force to be reckoned with any time she’s on the screen.
But then there’s Fraser.
A horrendous casting choice, every time he makes an appearance, the audience doesn’t see Dwight D. Eisenhower. They only see Brendan Fraser. Don’t get it twisted, he’s good as the Major General but he’s not a chameleon. Some actors just blend into different roles despite the viewer having seen them in dozens of projects previously. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Amy Adams, John Malkovich and Carey Mulligan immediately come to mind as actors who you’ve seen so often that you expect to see the actor as opposed to the character, yet somehow become the character within seconds. Fraser is not that here. Perhaps it would be different if he was playing one of the other war generals who aren’t as well known and recognizable but picking him to play the future President of the United States was a horrible, unfortunate misstep that derails the movie every few minutes.
Without Fraser cast in that specific role, PRESSURE is so much more impactful. Instead, the unique take on the historical event, the gravity of the story, the incredible drama the film delivers and the performances of Stagg and Condon are all diminished with that one casting choice.
Nevertheless, PRESSURE will stir a curiosity in audiences to learn more about D-Day and that’s reason alone to see it on the biggest screen possible.
JKG SCORE: 7.0 out of 10
Untitled Film Project 