The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

First few minutes of the film have you fooled into thinking it's something else entirely... anyone who turns off because of this is missing a movie which ramps up the "Pressure" notch by notch. It's not for some time that you realise how the movie gets its name...If you try to explain this movie people get the wrong idea.:-)

... that`s what it said on the info button of my remote control and this intrigued me because what sort of madmen think they can make " A breakneck yarn of redneck cops and cheerleaders " ? Well director Richard Gale and co-writer Craig Brewer think they can .As you`d might expect with " A breakneck yarn of redneck cops and cheerleaders " PRESSURE is rubbish . It includes many dumb situations involving logic , characterisation and stereotyping . Actually stereotyping is the thing that stuck out in my mind as the cops here are as you`d expect in a rural American state - Inbred , inter related and a bigger menace to society than any local criminal , a sort of cross between the drill instructor from FULL METAL JACKET and the pig fetish freaks from DELIVERANCE. But I also wish to say credit where it`s due because despite ludicurous and very dumb PRESSURE is a fairly entertaining movie and even though Richard Gale and Craig Brewer are very possibly mad for wanting to do " A breakneck yarn of redneck cops and cheerleaders " I never felt like switching the TV off . Let`s hope they don`t get stopped for speeding by state troopers on a lonely road

Students-on-the-road-getting-in-trouble seems to be one of the themes of the year. At first sight, this movie does not look very differently from the other action or horror flicks I saw recently. However, it has a quality and coherence that is not usual for movies in its class. Without any known name in the cast, with a low budget and according to some of the critics in only 19 days, director Richard Gale succeeded to make a very decent movie. His hand is sure, his cut is professional, and the movie might have been low-cost for the producers, but never looks cheap. I also think that something deeper about the American gun culture is trespassing the screen. I expect nice surprises from this director in the future. 7/10 on my personal scale.

Pressure is something of a paradox. It plays like an above-average TV movie, but at times does better than standard hollywood fare in avoiding plot cliches and explosion-driven narratives.Kerr Smith, probably familiar from Dawson's Creek, is pretty likeable as the young man caught up in a series of freak mishaps which leave him hunted by the local police for a crime he didn't commit. There are some dodgy moments (The old camera spinning round the head as he tries to stay sane moment leaps to mind) but overall it's undemanding and he does fine. The supporting cast does fine, Lochlyn Munro is best as his unbelievably loyal friend (You're the subject of a statewide manhunt and waving a gun around while covered in blood? Let's go!) and the sheriff is suitably psychotic. That's the main character problem with the film - some of the characters are just so damn nasty it makes them somewhat unbelievable.The narrative is the film's strong point, although it tails off a bit in the second half. The way that things fall apart in the first place is suitably plausible and it's a shame that the same inventiveness couldn't continue through the whole script. Things stay pretty tense though, and really the only complaint is that it ends a bit easily and perhaps should have been drawn out a bit longer - hardly the worst criticism of a film.So overall - not a bad way to kill 90 minutes on a sunday afternoon.