June 2, 2026 – The historical drama Pressure captures the tension around the decision of when to launch the largest sea-based invasion in history to retake Europe from the Germans in World War II, and that depended on the weather. Years later, when Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower was asked what gave the allies the edge in the invasion, he replied that the allies had better meteorologists than the Germans did.

The drama in the movie comes from radical disagreements between the chief British weather forecaster and his American counterpart. Eisenhower is also under pressure not to delay the invasion because of a number of factors, including the increasing likelihood that the Germans might soon penetrate the carefully kept secrecy about the time and location of the invasion. There are personal dramas as well in this story.

Chief forecaster James Stagg (played by Andrew Scott of “All of Us Strangers”) is a buttoned-down serious scientist, who chafes at the loose, fun-loving American Army meteorological group, led by Colonel Irving P. Krick (played by Chris Messina of “Air”). Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser of “The Whale”) has complete confidence in Krick.

The two men have radically different approaches to weather forecasting, and they arrive at completely opposite weather predictions for D-Day. Stagg predicts weather by collecting massive amounts of data from air, land and sea as well as relying on his own experience with unstable weather conditions in the North Sea and English Channel. Krick bases his predictions by comparing current weather conditions to historical records of weather conditions which were similar to present conditions.

Using his own methods, Krick predicts the weather for the planned invasion date to be clear, sunny and mild. That is what the invasion planners want to hear. Stagg uses his own methods and experience to come up with a very different D-Day forecast, very stormy conditions with rain, high waves and low clouds that would lead to a disastrous invasion attempt. This puts Eisenhower in a terrible bind, and the situation is made worse by the way Krick and Stagg handle the situation.

Eisenhower wants Stagg and Krick to agree on a forecast. They will not. Stagg argues that Krick is cherry picking historical weather data to give Eisenhower the answer he wants. Stagg, on the other hand, doesn't care if anyone likes his forecast. Stagg argues that Krick's methods have worked well in the past, but he has been working in places where the weather is more stable and predictable than it is in the North Sea and English Channel, and he's been lucky. Stagg is convinced his methods are scientifically sound, but he admits that weather forecasting is inherently uncertain.

Eisenhower is also under pressure from British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (played by Damian Lewis of “Our Kind of Traitor”) who insists that the planned invasion date cannot be delayed. Stagg is also under additional pressure because he is being kept isolated from a family emergency because of all the secrecy around D-Day. Eisenhower is under increased pressure because he is haunted by the failure of a D-Day rehearsal, Operation Tiger, which resulted in hundreds of deaths. It appears that this failure may have prevented Eisenhower from being overconfident when making his big decision on D-Day.

Eisenhower ends up making a decision very unpopular with Montgomery and others. His decision, as well as Stagg's very inconvenient weather forecast both turn out to be right. Stagg then comes up with another unexpected followup weather forecast which profoundly affects the D-Day invasion. Another key character in this drama is an aide to Eisenhower, Kay Summersby (Kerry Condon of “Train Dreams”) who becomes a go-between, trusted by both Eisenhower and Stagg.

This story is well-written and well-paced, with great acting performances all around, especially by Scott and Fraser. Although this is largely a talky movie that takes place in a few rooms, there is also some action and some battle scenes. If there are any significant historical inaccuracies in this film, I am unaware of them. This film rates a B.

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