‘Pressure’ Trailer: Brendan Fraser Grapples with the Weight of D-Day as a Snarling General Eisenhower

Thousands of invading American, British, and Canadian soldiers died on D-Day just trying to make it to shore. That grim fact props up Focus Features’ new “Pressure” as more of a slow-boiling political thriller than your average World War II movie. And yet, both strategic battlefields derive their excitement from deciding when, where, and how “real” characters should finally pull the trigger and make history.

Directed by Anthony Maras and co-written with David Haig, adapting Haig’s 2014 stage play from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (which later appeared on the West End), “Pressure” unfolds over the 72 hours preceding the largest seaborne military invasion ever tried. At its center is General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) and Royal Air Force meteorologist James Stagg (Andrew Scott), whose forecast will determine whether the conflict-changing takeover in France has even the smallest chance to succeed.

Here, Fraser brings ferocious authority to Eisenhower, embodying the familiar role with an all-consuming, gruff steadiness that casts the 34th U.S. president as a force as strong as weather. The Oscar winner (“The Whale”) further explores Eisenhower’s diplomatic reputation by unearthing a side that’s even more emotional and dynamic. Under Maras’ grinding escalation of the stakes, “Pressure” promises a feature that follows the real man and the myth he became to produce a cultural swell this consequential.

A military leader holding firm beneath the weight of international conflict, a one-note Eisenhower performance is a real risk that still lingers for Fraser. But the first “Pressure” trailer suggests he’s got a good scene partner in Scott. Stagg must treat clouds as a life-or-death key to abstract science, and the footage here toggles between claustrophobic war-room scenes and sweeping shots of churning rain off the coast of Normandy for an uneasy visual balance that mirrors the strong leads brewing tension.

Kerry Condon also appears as Eisenhower’s assistant Kay Summersby, while Chris Messina, Damian Lewis, and more round out an ensemble that positions “Pressure” as a prestige acting showcase with big aspirations in the wake of masterpieces from “Das Boot” to “Dunkirk.” Revisiting a heavily contentious chapter of American life comes with stiff competition, but “Pressure” seems set to weather the storm.

From Focus Features, “Pressure” will be released in theaters on Friday, May 29. Watch the film‘s first trailer below.