Brendan Fraser's New WWII Movie Pressure Debuts With Strong Rotten Tomatoes Score

A new World War II movie starring Brendan Fraser has debuted with a strong Rotten Tomatoes score.

Between The Whale, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, the crime comedy Brothers, and the comedy-drama Rental Family, Brendan Fraser’s movies have covered a wide range of genres in recent years. The popular actor, who won an Academy Award for his performance in The Whale, has also been generating a great deal of buzz since he is reprising his role as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy 4, the long-awaited sequel that is scheduled to release in theaters on October 15, 2027.

Now, Fraser’s new World War II film Pressure has debuted with an 83% critics’ score based on 23 reviews. The score will likely fluctuate as more reviews are added before and after the movie comes to theaters on May 29.

Pressure is a movie about D-Day, but rather than mostly focusing on showing the actual invasion, it is about the 72 hours prior. It tells the real story of how a meteorologist named Captain James Stagg worked to convince General Dwight D. Eisenhower to delay the invasion from June 5, 1944 to June 6 due to perilous weather conditions. Many lives and the outcome of the war were saved as a result of the decision to push it back to June 6. Fraser plays Eisenhower in the film while Emmy Award nominee Andrew Scott plays Stagg.

In ScreenRant‘s Pressure review, Brandon Zachary gives the movie six out of 10 stars and highlights the two actors’ performances: “Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser do terrific work in the lead roles, and they’re magnetic enough to make a movie about debates over weather predictions riveting – even if the script and direction can’t quite match their tone.” He also praises Fraser for doing “a great job at making Eisenhower come across as a man haunted by the potential for disaster.”

IGN‘s review by Jim Vejvoda also gives a “Fresh” score, in this case eight out of 10 stars, because “war movie fans and WWII buffs should appreciate the film’s devotion to detail, while mainstream audiences will be treated to a taut, compelling story about the very real men behind the icons who ensured an Allied victory.”

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Frank Scheck is impressed by the cast, particularly Scott, and how the movie is able to successfully escalate the tension as it progresses: “Featuring an award-worthy performance by Andrew Scott in the lead role and solid supporting turns by Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon and Chris Messina, Pressure lives up to its title with its expert ratcheting up of sustained tension.”

As for the “Rotten” reviews, Alison Foreman at IndieWire expresses frustration at how the director, Anthony Maras, nearly elevates the film, but is ultimately unable to do so despite several promising moments: “There are hints of a far better movie peeking out from Maras’ dull weather drama, and the Australian director nearly finds it on numerous occasions.”

In TheWrap‘s review, William Bibbiani compliments Maras’ direction, but feels it doesn’t do enough to justify the interesting historical background into a full movie: “Maras’ sturdy, competent direction isn’t enough to turn Pressure into anything more than a nifty historical anecdote that can’t sustain a feature-length motion picture.”

If Pressure‘s Tomatometer score stays “Fresh,” it will be Fraser’s third film in a row to achieve this feat. Rental Family‘s positive reviews led to an 88% critics’ score, while Diamond received an 82% after debuting at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. His only “Rotten” critics’ score for a movie since 2020 is Brothers, which sits at 44%. Fraser’s recent movies have generally been receiving high audience scores too, including 95% for Rental Family and 91% for The Whale.

Along with Fraser as Eisenhower and Scott as Stagg, Pressure features Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon as Kay Summersby, Chris Messina as Irving P. Krick, Damian Lewis as Bernard Montgomery, and Henry Ashton as John Eisenhower. The screenplay was co-written by Maras and David Haig, the latter of whom previously wrote the story as a stage play that was first performed in 2014.

Pressure releases in theaters on May 29.