Logged · 2026-09-10
Mayday
Apple Original Film Mayday is a breezy buddy action-comedy led by Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. It probably isn’t the kind of film that will stay with you years later, but while it lasts, it knows exactly how to keep you smiling. The trailer has already laid out the central premise. During a secret Cold War mission in 1987, US Navy pilot Troy Kelly (Ryan Reynolds) is shot down over Soviet airspace. Stranded behind enemy lines, his unlikely lifeline comes in the form of a former KGB agent played by Kenneth Branagh. Whether Kelly can make it back home with his help becomes the journey from there. Give the film its opening 15 minutes to quickly put the pieces in place — with enough aerial action thrown in to keep things moving — and Mayday soon finds its rhythm. From that point, it comfortably jumps between compact but punchy set pieces, comic exchanges, bits of drama and the growing chemistry between its two leads. There is a slight dip around the middle when the characters are look