WALRUS SCORE: B
I’m honestly surprised that Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh’s new action comedy, Mayday, has only a 66% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes—because I liked it a hell of a lot more than that.
Now streaming on Apple TV+, Mayday is charming, silly fun that plays like a love letter to the action movies of the 1980s—and Top Gun in particular.
Maybe I enjoyed it because I’m old enough to remember when movies like this ruled theaters and Top Gun was a full-blown cultural phenomenon.
After being shot down behind enemy lines, Navy pilot Troy, played by Reynolds, must rely on Nick, Branagh’s mysterious Russian character, to help him escape the Soviet Union. What follows feels like one of those classic ’80s buddy movies—think Lethal Weapon or Midnight Run—complete with over-the-top stunts, cheeky humor and a wild vehicle chase.
It’s ridiculous at times, but that’s also part of the fun.
The movie works primarily because of Kenneth Branagh, who brings a surprising amount of charm and compassion to Nick, a Russian man completely obsessed with American culture. Reynolds is doing his usual wisecracking thing, but Branagh gives the movie its heart.
Set in 1987, Mayday has plenty of fun with the final years of the Cold War while offering more than a few winks and nods to Top Gun. The pacing is quick, but the movie still leaves enough room for a small yet compelling story involving Nick and his daughter—and what life inside Cold War-era Russia looked like.
Is Mayday a great movie that will stay with you for weeks?
No.
You’ll probably stop thinking about it before the end of the day.
But it’s a fun, fast-moving throwback, and Reynolds and Branagh have genuinely great chemistry together.
Sometimes a movie doesn’t need to change your life. Sometimes it just needs to show you a good time—and Mayday delivered that for me.
