Pressure - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Pressure



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:




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Movie
Not going to lie to you here. But is anyone else absolutely ecstatic to see Brendan Fraser headlining new movies these days? After he basically left the Hollywood world 15-16 years ago due to some rather unfortunate circumstances, it’s been amazing to see his career getting a revitalization. I thought that when he was in Doom Patrol that it was all he’d be going for. Cheap TV appearances where he didn’t have to show much of his face (poor guy’s body was wrecked from years of injuries, a very deep battle with depression, and...well...age), and possibly get some Hallmark movies and some more TV work. But lo and behold, it looks like his fans haven’t forgotten good ole George of the Jungle, and basically SWAMPED the man with praise. Add in some really cool indie films, and suddenly we have Brendan back in films, with a new Mummy film scheduled to possibly come out in the summer of 2028. So I don’t know what alternate reality I’m living in, but frankly I like it.

I’m sure we all know the tale of D-Day and how pivotal it was for turning the tide on the Germans in World War II. I mean, we’ve had just about every take on the planet, showing us the invasion, the events leading up to it, and even the aftermath. But Pressure decides to tell the story from a completely different angle. That of a meteorological point of view, where Dwight Eisenhower and the rest of the Allied forces were desperately trying to come up with the perfect day to storm the beaches due to the notoriously bad Western European weather.

The narrative is tight and clean, focusing on the five people who would be determining just when the Allied forces would drop the boom on the German invading forces. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) was ready to rock and roll, but he wanted to make sure that his soldiers would not land on a beach drowning in rain, so he had his chief meteorologist, Col. Irving Krick (Chris Messina), running predictions for weeks in hopes of making June 10th, 194,4 the date of infamy. But a thorn in the side of said plan is introduced in the form of James Stagg, a Scottish meteorological wizard who thinks that Col. Krick’s prediction of good weather on the day of the invasion is based on fallacy. What ensues next is a power struggle as the two men vie for their points of view to get through to Eisenhower, and a desperate search for a day, ANY day that could potentially work.

What’s amazing about Pressure is just how accurate the base plot line is. I have no idea how much of the actual squabbling and nuances are actually true, and how much is fabricated for the big screen, BUT D-Day was actually only ever truly carried out because of James Stagg and his predictions. The entire week of the invasion was a storm of epic proportions, but out of sheer skill and (probably) luck, Stagg was able to predict a small “break” in the storm that just so happened to be the very next morning past the planned June 5th date. Effectively giving the Allied troops an unbelievable moment where they could attack in a moment when the Germans would never suspect them coming.

A tightly focused narrative, Pressure doesn’t engage the audience with any big tricks or war scenes. Rather, it uses a sense of tension and fear based upon the very real possibility that the Allied forces wouldn’t be able to make it. Andrew Scott stands out as James Stagg, giving a nuanced and very “British” performance as the man who refused to be cowed by those who just wanted the end goal, even if they had to lie to themselves to get there. Fraser works as Ike Eisenhower, but weirdly he’s THAT phenomenal. I’m not trying to downplay his performance, but he was no Gary Oldman as Churchill,l if you know what I mean. That being said, I really enjoyed Pressure more than I thought I would. It was the right balance of tension and payoff, with director Anthony Maras pulling the emotional heartstrings by colorizing and interjecting actual footage from D-Day and the days before it in between shots of the film itself.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for war violence, bloody images, some strong language, and smoking




Video:

Pressure was shot digitally on 3.4K cameras, and then transferred with a SLIGHT upscale to 4K for the home video release. While I’m sure the 4K UHD looks excellent, this Blu-ray is no slouch either. Close-ups reveal plenty of fine details, ranging from beard stubble to the little shaving nicks of modern razors (you can tell when they’re using modern cartridge razors vs straight razors of the times thanks to having a barber for a close relative), and black levels are superb. Colors are a bit warm, with mahogany overtones throughout, especially in the dimly lit enclaves that they make their battle plans in. Reds are a bit muted and diminished, but there is a slight green/blue push that gives everything a slightly sealike look.







Audio:

Luckily for us, Universal is one of the good guys, which means that they use the same Dolby Atmos track on this Blu-ray as they do for the 4K UHD release. And frankly, it’s really, really good. A vast majority of the film is actually spent with quieter, more nuanced bits revolving around ambient noise in the war rooms and rain falling down in the third act. But that last 20 minutes gives us a rousing action performance as we see some of the bits from the actual invasion re-enacted. Surrounds are wild in those moments, with bullets whizzing overhead and explosions rocking the listening position. That being said, the rest of the track is much more subtle, with the hubbub of the war room really being the most exciting bits. Dialogue is strong all the way across, with good dynamics and a great score by Volker Bertelmann.










Extras:

• BUILDING PRESSURE - Go behind the scenes as the filmmakers and cast break down the story’s origins and the complex characters who were pivotal in changing the course of history.
• AN AUTHENTIC WORLD OF WAR - From set design and camera choreography to period props and costumes, filmmakers reveal the details they used to shape an accurate recreation of the era

Final Score: ​

Pressure is not a perfect historical war film, but it’s more than engaging and entertained this jaded reviewer more than I ever expected it to. It wasn’t boring. It wasn’t trite. It simply told the day from a different point of view that I don’t think has been properly explored before. And frankly, that was a breath of fresh air amidst all the typical war flicks that we know and have seen for 80+ years. Universal’s Blu-ray looks and sounds great, with an awesome Atmos track that really stretches its legs in the last 20 minutes, and the typical anemic extras that we’ve come to expect from modern films (I really miss the pre-2015 days when movies would come with 4-23 hours of extras, many times housed on a second or third disc). All in all, fun watch and a good looking disc. Definitely check it out if you have the time.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Andrew Scott, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina, Damien Lewis
Directed by: Anthony Maras
Written by: David Haig, Anthony Maras
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French DD+ 7.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 100 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 28th, 2026

Recommendation: Check It Out