Pressure
2026
As a historian with an interest in Dwight Eisenhower, I had to give this one a watch.
Kudos to the makers of Pressure. First, for simply making the film. War films are normally about action: the studio probably approved a film about decisions and character only because it was previously lauded as a play.
The cast is excellent, especially Andrew Scott as James Stagg. Brendan Fraser is good but not great as Ike: he conveys the tension of the man with the heaviest responsibility in the world at that moment, although he never disappears into the role the way George C. Scott did into Patton (granted, that's one hell of a high bar). Also kudos for showing the frank, open connection between Ike and Kay Summersby (a perfect Kerry Condon) without delving into the alleged romance. The film messes with history only as much as it needs to to sharpen the timeline. I would have liked to learn a little more about forecasting in those days, and the budget seemingly ran out at Utah Beach where the German defense was basically one machine gun. But those quibbles are minor set beside the central point of the film: the struggles of people making decisions with incomplete information and impossibly high stakes.
Matt Bille is a science writer, novelist, naturalist, and historian living in Colorado Springs. His next book, the scientific thriller Apex Predator, wil be out from Blackstone in February 2027.
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