Pressure is a World War II drama, opening in 1944, with what looks like the calamity of a beach massacre, but was actually Exercise Tiger – a rehearsal for D-Day which all went wrong, resulting in many deaths, but the film doesn’t go into the details and it’s something I had to look up afterwards, although it is quite a read.
6 weeks on, and there’s just 72 hours until the proposed date for D-Day – aka Operation Overlord, which will either be June 5th or June 6th. That’s not without its weather challenges, though, but if they delay it further, their next window of opportunity will be June 18th, and risk the Germans finding out their plans in the meantime.
Expert meterologist Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott – Ripley) is brought in, but is a right bossy sod, even if not-yet-President Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser – Rental Family) wants him, because he’s the best. And as such, it’s going to put the nose out of joint for his American counterpart, know-it-all Irving Krick (Chris Messina – I.S.S.), leading to them being at loggerheads.
With a plan to use dummy paratroopers to put the Germans off, Ike wants them to go on the 5th, otherwise he believes the enemy will see them coming, but Stagg wants things put off a day until the 6th – as he foresees a storm that no-one else can. Is he right? Well, we know June 6th was the day that this operation took place, but how accurate was he?
Pressure features an awful lot of shouting, but it is a brilliant watch, with everyone acting their socks off – and both Fraser and Scott sparring well and chewing the scenery – along with great support from Kerry Condon (F1: The Movie) as Kay Summersby, a member of the British Mechanised Transport Corps, and Damian Lewis (Fackham Hall) as senior British Army officer Bernard ‘Monty’ Montgomery, even though at times, the film does feel more like a stage play than an actual movie. Plus, it’s just a mere 100 minutes, whereas some directors would’ve bloated it out to 30 minutes more to its detriment.
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credit scenes.
Pressure is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray Steelbook, Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 100 minutes
Release date: September 9th 2026
Studio: Focus Features
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (ARRIRAW (3.4K), Super 16 (some scenes))
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 8/10
Director: Anthony Maras
Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Cass Marks, Lucas Webb
Writers: David Haig, Anthony Maras
Stage play: David Haig
Music: Volker Bertelmann
Cast:
James Stagg: Andrew Scott
Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower: Brendan Fraser
Kay Summersby: Kerry Condon
Irving Krick: Chris Messina
Bernard ‘Monty’ Montgomery: Damian Lewis
Liz Stagg: Tamsin Topolski
Andrew Carter: Jojo Macari
Air Marshal Leigh-Mallory: Con O’Neill
General Omar Bradley: Alexander Hanson
Admiral Bertram Ramsay: Robert Portal
Casey: Joshua Hill
Bryant: Toby Williams
Flight Officer Murray: Richard Clothier
Flight Officer Hamilton: Michael Benz
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.