War and weather come together to fuel the compelling new historical drama “Pressure.”

In theaters this week, it chronicles the incredibly important role the hard-to-craft forecast played in the Allied Forces’ invasion of Normandy, France, in June 1944.

More intimately, “Pressure” — based on the 2014 play of the same name by David Haig — is the story of the work done by Scottish military meteorologist Group Capt. James Stagg, portrayed with great care by the talented Andrew Scott.

In the film, Stagg is the man ultimately responsible for crafting the forecast for the commander of the Allied Forces, American Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser), in what the former sees as an impossibly short time frame: less than three days.

“Pressure” begins 72 hours before D-Day, six weeks after the disastrous dress rehearsal, Exercise Tiger, which was plagued by problems leading to a tremendous loss of life.

“It was a catastrophe,” on-screen text tells us.

That event weighs heavily on the larger-than-life Eisenhower, who is applying much of the film’s titular pressure on Stagg. After all, Eisenhower has with him in Europe his long-term meteorologist, Irving P. Krick (Chris Messina), who had been right on the money with his forecasts in the general’s African and Middle Eastern campaigns.

Also a Hollywood adviser who has consulted on films including “Gone with the Wind,” the cool-and-cocky Krick is a far cry from the rigid Stagg. The stark contrast between the two is the lifeblood of the first half or so of the film, as differences in the ways in which they approach the task at hand are far more important than their wildly different personalities.

Krick is entirely comfortable relying on patterns from analogue charts of past weather in the region — a method Stagg believes to be ludicrous, which he makes clear in no uncertain terms. Predicting the weather in this part of the world, he insists, bears little resemblance to doing so in the regions where Krick had previously delivered.

Instead, Stagg wants readings from myriad weather stations, even those fairly far from the beaches of Normandy.

“Get me more data,” Stagg commands his staff. “That’s what counts.”

Krick insists D-Day will be “clear and sunny,” but Stagg is far from convinced.

Eisenhower badly wants to proceed with the huge operation, Overlord, on the targeted day, but he also knows conducting it during a powerful storm would prove to be calamitous. Others — most notably British Army officer Bernard Montgomery (Damian Lewis), the commander of the land forces — are insistent that they proceed as scheduled. After all, due to tidal conditions, pushing it off would mean a delay of weeks, and that’s a lot of time, considering how many soldiers are intimately familiar with the details of the invasion.

Stagg’s stressful existence is only further complicated by a personal matter, to which he cannot attend due to the high stakes and sensitivity of his mission. Lt. Kay Summersby (Kerry Condon) — Eisenhower’s loyal aide, who functions as a go-between for the warring internal factions — wants to help Stagg, but even that isn’t possible.

We wish there were more of Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin,” “F1”) in “Pressure,” as she brings much to the limited role.

Even so, the film draws more than enough power from the performances of Scott (“All of Us Strangers,” “Ripley”) and Fraser (“The Whale,” “Rental Family”), who are especially terrific together. Although he shines in some big moments, Scott is mainly stoic and steady in confrontations with Fraser’s Eisenhower, who runs the gamut from perplexed to infuriated by what the lead meteorologist is telling him.

While Messina (“Argo”) doesn’t have the greatest range in the acting ranks, he is perfectly cast as Krick, while Lewis (“Band of Brothers”) is over-the-top as Montgomery — possibly appropriately so given the man’s reputation for having a huge ego and being difficult.

“Pressure” is directed by Anthony Maras, marking his second feature film, following the well-received 2018 thriller “Hotel Mumbai.” He co-wrote the screenplay with Haig, and together they tell this story both efficiently and effectively. You can find many bigger, more elaborate films about events from World War II, but this one sticks to its narrow mission.

It even briefly dramatizes a bit of the Allies’ success at Normandy, but, again, “Saving Private Ryan” this isn’t.

What it is, instead, is a film well worth seeing, which is enough.

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‘PRESSURE’

3.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for war violence, bloody images, some strong language, and smoking)

Running time: 1:40

How to watch: In theaters May 29

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