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.