‘Mayday’ Apple TV Review: Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh Team Up in a Cold War Throwback

A throwback to another era, Mayday is a low-key action-comedy set in the late 1980s, as the Cold War was winding down and the Soviet Union was beginning the process of reform that would ultimately lead to its collapse. Politics, however, are hardly the point. At most, the film makes a few lighthearted references to the differences between the United States and the USSR—differences that, in the end, may not be as stark as its protagonist once believed.

The year is 1987. Ryan Reynolds plays Troy Kelly, nicknamed «Assassin,» a U.S. Navy pilot whom we first see unconscious after a brutal parachute landing in what appears to be enemy territory. The film briefly flashes back to showcase Troy’s skills in the cockpit, which earn him a CIA assignment to fly a cutting-edge aircraft on a covert mission over Soviet airspace. We also see him caring for his ailing father, a retired serviceman confined to a hospital, and hear him confidently extolling the virtues of American capitalism over Soviet communism while chatting with fellow pilots.

The mission quickly goes south. During an aerial dogfight, Troy is forced to eject at a dangerously high speed, with debris from the aircraft tearing through his parachute. Unsurprisingly, the crash leaves him badly injured. Before blacking out, he spots an armed man approaching and tries to fight back. When he comes to, however, he finds himself inside a house filled with American memorabilia: Top Gun posters, Bruce Springsteen records, pictures of Tom Cruise and other icons of U.S. pop culture. Has he somehow made it back home while unconscious?

Not quite. He’s actually in the home of Nikola «Nik» Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh), a retired KGB officer who secretly idolizes American culture. Amid mutual suspicion and plenty of playful banter, Troy gradually begins to trust his unlikely rescuer—turned-captor—as Soviet authorities close in on the area where his plane went down. Once they’re forced out into the open, the two men must flee together, ideally making their way beyond Soviet borders.

Told with the breezy, irreverent tone that has become synonymous with Reynolds’ screen persona, Mayday ultimately offers Branagh the more rewarding role. His eccentric former KGB agent, whose love of McDonald’s and Hollywood borders on obsession, ends up stealing the show. Branagh handles most of the hand-to-hand combat—only fitting given his character’s background—while Reynolds takes charge whenever the action returns to aviation. The story itself, however, unfolds in a fairly predictable fashion, offering few surprises or fresh angles on its central premise.

Mayday is an amiable, harmless entertainment, notable for its surprisingly restrained approach to action. While its 110-minute runtime includes several action sequences, they’re relatively modest compared to the oversized set pieces that dominate contemporary blockbusters. It also revolves around a geopolitical conflict that now feels somewhat distant. Although the United States and modern-day Russia remain adversaries, the historical circumstances that shaped the Cold War are obviously very different today. Ironically, Branagh delivers most of the film’s funniest moments, while Reynolds—perhaps in tribute to his character’s profession—often seems to be operating on autopilot.

The screenplay, written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein—the filmmaking duo behind 2023’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves—injects a few themes that reflect more contemporary concerns. At heart, though, Mayday plays like an affectionate throwback to the buddy movies of decades past. It’s ultimately the story of an unlikely friendship between two men from opposite worlds, united by their shared admiration for Tom Cruise and Bruce Springsteen. If you can’t win a war with missiles and fighter jets, perhaps soft power will do the trick.