# ‘The Brink of War’ Review: Jeff Daniels Makes an Unpersuasive Ronald Reagan in Talky Historical Drama About Nuclear Summit With Gorbachev

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-brink-of-war-review-jeff-daniels-makes-an-unpersuasive-ronald-reagan-in-talky-historical-drama-about-nuclear-summit-with-gorbachev/
- Published: 2026-08-11T13:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-08-11T13:13:51+00:00
- Original publisher: The Hollywood Reporter
- Original article: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-brink-of-war-review-jeff-daniels-ronald-reagan-1236670267/
- Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Film, Geopolitics, Politics

## Key points

- New film dramatises the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev Reykjavik nuclear summit
- Review calls it talky and overly didactic despite good intentions
- Jeff Daniels and Jared Harris star; out 14 August

## Summary

The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck reviews "The Brink of War," director Michael Russell Gunn's feature debut dramatising the 1986 Reykjavik summit between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which helped pave the way for a nuclear arms reduction treaty. While praising the film's intentions, the review finds it overly talky and prone to speechifying, with familiar catchphrases deployed like "greatest hits," resulting in a drama that only intermittently comes to life despite its historically significant subject matter.

Jeff Daniels stars as Reagan opposite Jared Harris as Gorbachev, with a supporting cast including Hope Davis, Branka Katic, J.K. Simmons, Aya Cash and Guy Burnet. Notably, the production filmed at the actual Icelandic location where the historic talks took place, and the review singles out Katic's performance as Raisa Gorbachev. The PG-rated film runs 1 hour 57 minutes and is set for release on Friday, 14 August.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.