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MeIn a world of increasing population, the new film Pressure subtly brings together two close people: the father of the weather and the father of history. Those designations are honorific, not necessarily masculine or feminine; spiritual father-interest people of all ages (but, let’s be real: especially over 50) may be interested in the story of the past-on the events that have been established in the days before the battle against Normandy in June 1944. The storm that will come will create unacceptable or impossible conditions.
Speaking of today, this is a movie about Dwight Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) nervously refreshing his weather program to see if he needs to change his upcoming plans. The weather program is played by Andrew Scott. Scott’s real character is James Stagg, a cruel and cold Scotsman who came to D-day to prepare as the chief of meteorological operations. Stagg quickly clashes with the American Irving Krick (Chris Messina), who knows that D-day is important and time is of the essence – and that is why he is persistent (by choice) using old data to “predict” that the storm will pass quickly. Stagg’s analysis is less optimistic. Anyone with tickets to an outdoor concert relying on the forecast will say so.
To the disjointed team of Scott, Fraser and Messina, Pressure adds the always welcome Kerry Condon as Kay Summersby, who served as Eisenhower’s wartime secretary. (All of the film’s main characters are real people.) “Men really like that word,” she says when someone throws around the word “genius”. At first, this seems like a bit of an oversight in the show, written by director Anthony Maras. “Did you know that meteorologists are boring?” Stagg is strongly questioned at one point. He admits that it is possible when he says that the actual season cannot be explained that way.
This distinction is more accurate than the film would admit. Although the idea of rapid meteorology being used to determine the future of a major war (and, therefore, perhaps the entire war) is certainly compelling, the weathermen and those around them are not so exciting. To his credit, Scott comes very close to holding the screen as someone whose scientific integrity defies the certainty that Eisenhower and others would love to hear. He is the master of the mild-mannered, soft-spoken (and sometimes secretive) Benedict Cumberbatch. For these reasons, Fraser is interesting enough (if not exactly chameleonic) as the impatient but unfair Eisenhower.
The main problem is not the systems; it’s that they’re using a recurring theme, all featured in the usual Focus Features palette of cool blues and green and purple military jackets. Meetings are held, Eisenhower demands answers, Krick insists that the work should not be delayed, and Stagg directs him, while Summersby stands by and tries to straighten things out – especially when Stagg learns that the pregnant woman he left at home may be in danger. Small differences in this cycle are seen again and again, and when Maras tries to increase its size it is a real attack play (spoiler alert: D-day happened), it shows the movie’s attempt at a limited cooker, all thanks to the work of the poor people-Saving Private Ryan montage.
It would be tempting to call this cross between social science and military history a fake movie, but Pressure doesn’t delve into the details of the two-parter, especially Stagg’s expertise in climate. This type can distinguish this project from any number of good entertainers – or the lowest film produced by HBO from 2002. Although there are few differences between the actors, Pressure feels that it will happen because of the most unknown: making the most of the armchairs fall asleep once when they hit.
