Mayday is a 2026 Apple TV original directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, set in 1987 near the end of the Cold War. Ryan Reynolds plays Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a Navy pilot whose secret mission goes wrong and leaves him stranded behind enemy lines in Soviet Russia, where he’s found by Kenneth Branagh’s Nikolai Ustinov, a former KGB agent.

The film leans on its buddy-comedy premise more than on a tight plot, and that choice is really what makes it work as an easy, enjoyable watch rather than anything more.

Movie Breakdown

Plot

The premise itself is a genuinely fresh spin on the buddy spy movie, and the film leans into its comedic tone enough that a few of the more illogical turns, like driving a military vehicle with a nuclear weapon still attached to it, end up adding to the fun rather than breaking the movie. Less forgivable is how the film handles Nikolai’s daughter, Anna. She’s part of his reason for wanting out, and then the movie just leaves her behind at the end without any real resolution.

Acting

Kenneth Branagh is fine as Nikolai, but the role never asks much of him, and it shows. Ryan Reynolds is playing the same character he plays in nearly everything at this point, so there’s nothing new from him here either.

Effects

The action shots that do show up are genuinely well done, some of the better moments in the film. The issue is how sparingly the movie uses them. It tends to steer away from more intense action and bigger effects work, the kind of moments that would have genuinely enriched the film, and settles for less than it seems capable of instead.

Pace

Pace holds up fine overall, though there are stretches that could have been tightened up without losing anything the story actually needed.

Rate It Score

Mayday landed a 72 on Rate It. The buddy-comedy premise and the chemistry between Branagh and Reynolds are enough to make it an easy watch, and the action shots back that up in the moments that count. What holds the score back traces to a script that leans on its comedic tone to paper over plot holes, like a nuclear weapon casually strapped to a military vehicle, and a storyline involving Nikolai’s daughter that never gets closure. Neither lead is doing anything new here, Branagh especially underused for what he’s capable of. Still, it’s a fun, low-effort watch, just not one that’s going to stick with me.