“Mayday” key art featuring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh.
Apple TV
Critics say Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh’s 1980s-era Soviet spy movie Mayday is entertaining, even though the subject matter was serious business back in the day.
Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), Mayday stars Reynolds as Lt. Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a hotshot U.S. Navy pilot whose top-secret reconnaissance mission over Russia during the Cold War goes haywire and leaves him stranded behind enemy lines.
When Troy is found by ex-KGB Nikolai Ustinov (Branagh), he discovers that instead of being done for, he and Nikolai forge a bond, driven by the Russian’s love of American culture.
Written by Daley and Goldstein, Mayday also stars Marcin Dorociński, Maria Bakalova and David Morse.
Mayday begins streaming on Apple TV on Friday at 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT. The film currently has an 86% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer based on 44 reviews. RT’s Critics Consensus, Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings are still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Mayday’?
Lindsey Bahr of The Associated Press is among the top critics on RT who gives Mayday a “fresh” critic score. Bahr writes in her RT review summary, “It’s hard to shake the feeling that it is a strange time to be releasing a movie with a sense of humor about Russia and geopolitical tensions … Even so, Mayday is still pretty fun within its slick and self-aware packaging.”
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter praises Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh in his “fresh” take on Mayday on RT, writing, “The popcorn film proves an entertaining diversion, thanks to the mismatched-buddy comic chemistry of the two leads.”
Barry Hertz of the Globe and Mail also praises Mayday. Hertz writes in his “fresh” RT review summary, “A rip-roaringly paced, imaginatively shot buddy comedy that feels inspired by just enough rewatches of Top Gun, Black Rain and Red Heat without feeling completely redundant, Mayday plays to everyone’s strengths.”
Empire Magazine’s Sophie Butcher awards Mayday a “fresh” score on RT as well, writing, “No need to declare an emergency here — thanks to two compelling central performances from Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh, engaging aesthetics and well-choreographed fight scenes, Mayday makes for a solid comedy-action combo.”
RogerEbert critic Brian Tallerico also deems Mayday “fresh” on RT, writing, “It’s a movie that mostly works, thanks largely to fluid direction from the pair and a truly entertaining performance from Kenneth Branagh.”
Nick Schager of The Daily Beast is among the top critics on RT who give Mayday a “rotten” score, calling the film “a mirthless mess whose ideas about 1980s international relations are almost as lousy as the incessant one-liners spouted by Reynolds.”
In her “rotten” take of the film on RT, Monica Castillo of AV Club writes, “For all its retro jokes about Cabbage Patch Kids and Top Gun, Mayday still hasn’t figured out how to make the era funny.”
Matt Singer of ScreenCrush isn’t a fan of Mayday, either, writing in his RT review summary that the film “smashes Top Gun, Midnight Run, and a dash of a Yakov Smirnoff stand-up set into an absurd and occasionally amusing buddy movie.”
Rated PG-13, Mayday makes its streaming premiere on Apple TV on Friday.
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