by Tim Gordon
An Unlikely Friendship Takes Flight Behind the Iron Curtain
Mayday sends a decorated American pilot behind Soviet lines and discovers something considerably more interesting than another Cold War confrontation. Written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the action comedy combines aerial adventure, political tension and Ryan Reynolds’ familiar wisecracking persona with an unexpectedly earnest story about friendship, freedom and two men raised to see each other as enemies.
Set in 1987, the film follows Troy “Assassin” Kelly (Ryan Reynolds), an American military pilot sent on a top-secret mission over the Soviet Union aboard the legendary Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most extraordinary reconnaissance aircraft developed during the Cold War.
His unlikely salvation comes from Nikolai “Nick” Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh), a former KGB operative who now works as a carpenter.
Nick may live behind the Iron Curtain, but his imagination is already somewhere else.
America.
Mayday Finds Friendship Behind Enemy Lines
Nick has developed an almost romantic fascination with the United States and dreams of escaping the Soviet Union for a new life in America.
That makes the American pilot who unexpectedly drops into his world more than a stranger in need of assistance.
Troy may represent Nick’s ticket out.
The two men consequently enter into an uneasy partnership. Nick agrees to use his knowledge, training and connections to help Troy evade Soviet authorities, while hoping the American can eventually help him and his daughter Anna (Maria Bakalova) escape to the West.
Standing in their way is Alexander Volkov (Marcin Dorociลski), whose pursuit transforms their increasingly complicated escape plan into something considerably more dangerous.
Yet the action isn’t really the film’s most interesting element.
At its center are two men raised under opposing political systems who discover that the ideological divide separating their countries doesn’t necessarily define the people living within them.
Ryan Reynolds Brings a Familiar Persona
There is no mistaking what Ryan Reynolds brings to Troy.
The actor once again leans into the light, sarcastic, self-aware personality that has become one of his most recognizable screen trademarks. At times, Troy feels like a variation on the comic rhythm Reynolds has carried from Deadpool into numerous other projects.
Your tolerance for that persona will probably determine how much of the humor works.
There are moments when the constant quips threaten to become grating, particularly when the circumstances surrounding Troy would seemingly call for considerably more urgency.
But Reynolds remains Reynolds.
His timing is sharp enough that even when the formula becomes obvious, he can still land the joke.
The film also has fun presenting Troy as a decidedly 1980s American military archetype. There is more than a little Top Gun DNA floating around the character, particularly in his swaggering confidence as an elite pilot.
But Troy isn’t Maverick.
Once stranded in Soviet territory, all that confidence becomes considerably less useful. He doesn’t know the landscape, doesn’t understand the people around him and can’t survive indefinitely without help.
That vulnerability gives Kenneth Branagh room to quietly steal the movie.
Kenneth Branagh Gives Mayday Its Heart
Branagh’s Nick is the counterweight the movie needs.
Where Troy brings swagger, Nick brings yearning.
His fascination with America isn’t simply a running joke. It represents the life he believes exists beyond the ideological and geographical boundaries surrounding him.
That gives his relationship with Troy an emotional foundation.
The American pilot initially sees the Soviet Union as hostile territory populated by people trained to capture him. Nick sees America as an almost mythical destination where another version of his life might be possible.
Both perspectives are built partly from perception.
As the men travel together, those abstractions begin giving way to something considerably more human.
They’re no longer merely an American and a Soviet.
They’re Troy and Nick.
That may sound overly sentimental, but Goldstein and Daley understand that the film works better when it embraces its sincerity instead of treating everything as another setup for Reynolds to deliver a punchline.
Branagh helps make that possible.
Two Views of the Cold War
The most interesting decision Goldstein and Daley make is keeping much of the story on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain.
Cold War films frequently place American audiences inside Western institutions looking outward toward an unknowable Soviet enemy. Here, Troy is the outsider.
That reversal allows Mayday to examine how people living under competing political systems can develop dramatically different perceptions of one another.
Nick’s embrace of American ideals feels almost foreign within his surroundings. His desire to defect isn’t merely political. It is deeply personal, tied to the future he imagines for himself and his daughter.
Troy, meanwhile, has to reconsider some of his assumptions once the faceless enemy becomes the man risking everything to save his life.
The movie never turns those ideas into a particularly complicated political examination, nor does it need to.
This is an action comedy, not a dissertation on U.S.-Soviet relations.
Its politics ultimately serve its characters.
Born in the U.S.A.
The filmmakers aren’t remotely shy about their 1980s influences.
References to Top Gun abound, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. album becomes part of the movie’s musical identity.
There is something appropriately ironic about that choice.
The title track has frequently been mistaken for uncomplicated American patriotism despite its considerably more complicated perspective on the American experience. Using Springsteen within a story about a Soviet man idealizing America gives the soundtrack an additional layer, whether every viewer catches it or not.
More importantly, the music helps establish the playful period atmosphere Goldstein and Daley are chasing.
The movie wants to be fun.
And mostly, it is.
Action, Comedy and an Earnest Center
Goldstein and Daley understand that the tonal balancing act is the entire game.
Lean too heavily into the Cold War politics and the comedy begins feeling inappropriate.
Push Reynolds’ humor too far and Nick’s desire for freedom loses its emotional weight.
Turn everything into an action spectacle and the relationship between the two men becomes secondary.
Mayday occasionally wobbles between those competing impulses, particularly when Reynolds’ familiar comic instincts overpower the scene around him.
But the movie repeatedly finds its way back to Troy and Nick.
That’s where it works.
The premise may involve military aircraft, Soviet agents, escape plans and international politics, but the film ultimately succeeds because of something considerably simpler: two men who were taught to see each other as enemies deciding instead to become friends.
Final Assessment
Mayday is an earnest, uplifting Cold War adventure that succeeds even when Ryan Reynolds’ increasingly familiar comic persona threatens to become a little too much.
Kenneth Branagh provides the film with its emotional center, giving Nick’s dream of escaping to America enough sincerity to keep the movie grounded beneath its action-comedy machinery.
Goldstein and Daley surround that relationship with Top Gun references, Bruce Springsteen, Soviet intrigue and enough period flavor to create a welcome piece of escapist fun.
The politics are uncomplicated.
The humor is familiar.
The destination is rarely difficult to predict.
But the journey remains enjoyable.
At a moment when international differences can once again feel enormous, there is something appealing about a movie built around the radical discovery that the person on the other side of the political divide might simply be someone worth knowing.
Produced by Apple Original Films, Skydance Media and Maximum Effort, Mayday continues Apple’s growing slate of star-driven original features.
Mayday doesn’t reinvent the Cold War movie.
It just gives it an unexpectedly warm handshake.
Grade: B-
