Now available on Digital
A month ago, my girlfriend was stunned when I didn’t jump at the chance to go see a new movie in theaters (I’m always the one dragging her to things), but some Brendan Fraser-starring WWII talky drama named Pressure, released with little fanfare or promotion, just didn’t seem worth the time. Now that it’s on digital, knowing that she wanted to see it, I gave in and agreed to watch it. Fifteen minutes in, as Andrew Scott and Fraser stared menacingly at each other over some potential rain clouds on the horizon, I shouted out loud, “Is this whole movie about the weather?”
Yes. Yes it is all about the weather. Hence the double entendre title.
And amazingly, Pressure comes on like an unexpected storm, slow at first but growing in intensity and–dare I say it?–pressure.
Based on the stageplay by David Haig, Pressure is brought to the big screen by director Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai). Relying heavily on a mood-inducing score by Volker Bertelmann (who scored one of my favorite movies, Lion, but who also for some reason goes by the name Hauschka), Maras draws us into a battle of wits and strategy that depends heavily on whether a storm front is going to roll north or south or anywhere near Normandy on a certain day in a certain month of a certain year when Nazis occupied France.
Scott gives a strong if unassuming performance as meteorologist and Group Captain James Stagg, while Fraser chews surgery as General Dwight D. Eisenhower, because back in 1999 when Fraser was dropping The Mummy we all knew he’d play an angry bald military genius one day. Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers) has a small but colorful role while poor Chris Messina looks eerily like Sad David Schwimmer from Band of Brothers.
I read long ago criticism towards critics who use the word “solid” to describe movies, but screw them: Pressure is a solid movie through and through, neither a waste of time nor a remarkably great use of it either. Scott, Fraser, and the rest give worthy performances, but they seem somewhat constrained by the trappings of the stageplay-esque format of the movie. The movie too is simultaneously captivating and overblown given that the drama revolves almost entirely around reading meteorological charts.
Credit to Maras for making it all work. At a brisk hour and 40 minutes, Pressure is the perfect length, fast-paced and ever-churning like the clouds Stagg is enlisted to predict. The stakes couldn’t be higher even if the men on screen (oh, and Kerry Condon!) aren’t at personal risk.
What I really liked is the war sequences depicting D-Day. Pressure is no Saving Private Ryan and Maras is no Steven Spielberg, but what Maras does here, combining war reenactment with colorized archival footage from the invasion of Normandy is impressive, fascinating to see, and differentiated from what’s already been done. Regardless, Pressure works as the perfect prequel to Spielberg’s classic.
Pressure isn’t an incredible film, but it’s a screw-the-critics solid WWII drama from start to finish, featuring strong performances by the lead cast and memorable repurposing of historical footage. If you’re into true-life WWII movies, Pressure is a can’t miss.
If only my girlfriend had wanted to see it in theaters.
Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.