Pressure review: 'an old-fashioned war film'

Film critic Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Pressure (12A) ★★★ Scottish meteorologist James Stagg's contribution to the success of the D-Day landings formed the basis for James Haig's old-fashioned play Pressure back in 2014. A hit at the time for Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre (which commissioned it), it has now been adapted into this similarly old-fashioned war film, starring Andrew Scott as Stagg and Brendan Fraser as Dwight D Eisenhower, the American general (and future president) upon whose shoulders the responsibility for success or failure ultimately fell. Like the play, it's mostly a chamber piece set in the immediate run-up to D-Day, when Stagg was brought in at Churchill's behest to advise on whether the proposed 5 June launch was a safe date to attack. With weather prediction very far from an exact science in 1944, we see how Stagg's 'Scotch pessimism', no-nonsense stoicism and preference for data collection riles up Eisenhower's own trusted weatherman Irving Krick (Chris Messina), a brash, over-confident American who puts too much faith in historic weather patterns and doesn't believe the storm front Stagg is convinced is on its way will materialise. With the fate of the war hanging in the balance, and the top brass worried about losing the element of surprise, there's no shortage of drama (Stagg's heavily pregnant wife is also about to give birth). Even so, director Anthony Maras still manages to squeeze a surprising amount of tension from a premise that hinges on men in rooms arguing over conflicting weather forecasts. READ MORE: Film reviews: Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger | Practical Magic 2 Never straying too far from its theatrical roots, Pressure works largely thanks to Scott's performance, his steely portrait of quiet certitude under extreme duress complimented by Fraser's nuanced portrait of Eisenhower as an outwardly confident leader privately wracked with guilt over past failures. Pressure is in cinemas from 9 September The Scotsman's arts newsletter is now sent twice a week - subscribe today Enjoying the Arts & Culture journalism on scotsman.com? Make it easier to find by selecting us as a preferred Google source Want the latest Scottish headlines sent directly to your phone? Sign up to our new WhatsApp channel here