Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | Film | September 8, 2026
When it comes to prestige television, Apple TV is hands down the best streamer out there over the last few years (Severance, Widow’s Bay, Crashing, Silo, etc., etc.), and it’s not even close (sorry, HBO). But when it comes to original movies, especially original action movies, Apple TV has an uncanny ability to deliver completely forgettable A-list fare, like The Gorge, Wolfs, Family Plan, Fountain of Youth, Ghosted, and Argyle. It’s really almost impressive how, outside of F1, a streamer with this much money capable of hiring so much talent can string together an inscrutable series of flops.
What’s so unique about Mayday — a buddy action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh — is how much it doesn’t suck. They’re really tarnishing their brand with this one. Granted, it’s not a great movie, either. It is … pleasant. It is somewhat entertaining. It is a solid B movie, a decent streaming flick, and not entirely a complete waste of time.
It is, however, a somewhat strange pairing. Set in the 1980s, Ryan Reynolds plays Troy Kelly, a Navy pilot who is assigned a spy mission over Russia during the Cold War. His plane is shot down in the middle of Russia and he’s rescued by Branagh’s Nikolai Ustinov (Branagh), a former KGB Agent who has an obsession with America and American culture. He loves Top Gun, he desires nothing more than to eat a McDonald’s Big Mac, and — thanks to his KGB training — he has impeccable fighting skills. With the long beard, Branagh also looks like Mandy Patinkin crossed with Jason Bateman.
The mission is to get Troy safely out of Russia, while he’s being pursued by Alexander Volkov (Marcin Dorocinski), a KGB higher-up who is trying to undermine Gorbachev and his policy of glasnost. There are a number of fight sequences, some shootouts, a car chase, and a lot of buddy-comedy camaraderie.
It’s pretty basic as these movies go, slightly elevated by an old-school Reynolds performance, a very game Branagh (pulling an Odenkirk in Nobody), and a decent script from directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Game Night, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves). It is not a movie that’s going to knock your socks off, but it’s lightly entertaining, Ryan Reynolds’ Reynoldsness is turned down a couple of notches, and Branagh is surprisingly adept at action comedy. It’s not going to leave a lasting imprint or anything, but it is not a complete dud, and for Apple TV, it’s quite an achievement.
