Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh Turn the Cold War Sideways in “Mayday”
- PowerPage Staff
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh enter the Cold War from very different directions in “Mayday,” the Apple Original film premiering Friday, September 4. The setup sounds like a spy thriller, but the official trailer makes room for an odd-couple comedy built around survival, distrust and an alliance neither man planned to make.
Reynolds plays Lieutenant Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a U.S. Navy pilot sent on a top-secret mission into Russian territory. When the operation collapses, Troy is stranded behind enemy lines and found by Nikolai Ustinov, an ex-KGB agent played by Branagh. Troy expects the encounter to end badly; instead, Nikolai may be the only person capable of getting him home.
That premise gives the movie two engines. One is physical: military pursuit, escapes and the constant threat of exposure. The other is conversational. Reynolds’ quick, defensive energy meets Branagh’s controlled eccentricity, turning the rescue into a test of whether two men shaped by opposing systems can read each other well enough to stay alive.
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein direct and write the film. Their approach, visible in the trailer, leans into scale without abandoning character comedy. The Cold War setting supplies the danger, but the central relationship keeps the movie from becoming a parade of anonymous action beats. A chase matters because Troy and Nikolai still have to decide whether the other man is helping, improvising or quietly setting a trap.
Maria Bakalova, Marcin Dorociński and David Morse are also in the cast. Apple lists the film at one hour and 50 minutes with a PG-13 rating. Those details position “Mayday” as a straightforward movie-night choice: a complete feature, not the start of a weekly episode commitment.
The official key art reinforces the tension between the two leads and the larger machinery around them. Reynolds and Branagh face the viewer inside a crowd of uniformed figures, visually isolating the men who will have to recognize an ally where the surrounding world sees an enemy. Red slips of paper puncture the military green, giving the image the same disruptive energy the partnership brings to the mission.
PowerPage’s guide to “Scary Movie” on Paramount+ offers another current streaming option, but the two films are chasing different kinds of comedy. “Mayday” uses historical pressure and action-movie scale; its funniest possibility is the fragile trust between Troy and Nikolai.
“Mayday” begins streaming September 4 on Apple TV. Watch the official trailer below before deciding whether this Cold War detour belongs in the weekend queue.
Watch: “Mayday” — Official Trailer (Apple TV)
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