Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser Fight Over the D-Day Weather Forecast in ‘Pressure’

You have probably never spent much time thinking about the meteorologists of D-Day. Pressure would like to change that.

The new WWII drama — directed by Anthony Maras and based on David Haig’s 2014 stage play — focuses on the 72 hours before June 6, 1944, and specifically on the clash between two rival forecasters: James Stagg, the British meteorologist played by Andrew Scott, and his American counterpart played by Brendan Fraser. General Eisenhower needed a weather window. The two men couldn’t agree on when — or whether — one was coming. The fate of the Allied invasion hung on whoever he believed.

It is, as IGN put it, “compelling, quality dad content” — which is a better compliment than it sounds.

The Reviews

Variety called it “handsome and efficient,” saying the film doesn’t quite claim that a weatherman won the war but “wouldn’t mind one bit if that’s what you came away believing.” The Hollywood Reporter praised Scott specifically, calling his performance “superb” and the film “tense.” Deadline described it as “thrilling” and noted that Eisenhower’s impossible choice between the two men generates genuine dramatic pressure.

The lone significant dissent comes from The Wrap, which found the historical anecdote too thin to sustain a full feature. It’s a reasonable concern — the premise is narrow — but the majority of critics seem to feel Maras and his cast make it work.

Scott vs. Fraser

The matchup is interesting on paper and apparently delivers in practice. Scott has been on a remarkable run since Ripley and All of Us Strangers; Fraser, following his Oscar win for The Whale, continues to make deliberate choices. Putting them across a table from each other in a room where the stakes are genuinely enormous turns out to be a good idea.

Pressure is in theaters now.