Ryan Reynolds may be the marquee name in Mayday, but the biggest surprise in Apple TV’s new action comedy is how thoroughly Kenneth Branagh steals the spotlight.
Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the filmmakers behind Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Mayday sends Reynolds and Branagh into a Cold War adventure filled with fistfights, espionage, absurd humor and a very unlikely friendship.
The film arrives on Apple TV on September 4, 2026, with a runtime of 1 hour and 50 minutes. Apple describes it as a genre-bending action-packed buddy comedy centered on a U.S. Navy pilot stranded behind enemy lines.
What makes Mayday work is the way Goldstein and Daley take the familiar ingredients of an ’80s action movie and give them a slightly different flavor. Reynolds gets to step away from the full-force wisecracking persona that has become closely associated with him, while Branagh unexpectedly gets to be the movie’s bruising, eccentric action hero.
Mayday Turns a Failed Spy Mission Into an Unlikely Friendship
The story begins in 1987, at the height of the Cold War.
Reynolds plays Lieutenant Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a cocky U.S. Navy fighter pilot sent on a top-secret mission into Soviet territory. The operation quickly falls apart, leaving Troy stranded behind enemy lines after a deadly crash landing.
His best chance of making it home comes from an unlikely source: Nikolai Ustinov, played by Branagh.
Nikolai is a former KGB officer with a deep affection for American pop culture and a desire to defect to the United States. He discovers Troy and agrees to help him survive. What begins as a practical alliance gradually develops into a genuine friendship as the two men attempt to escape Soviet Russia while the KGB closes in.
The premise has all the ingredients of a classic buddy adventure, and Mayday embraces that connection to older action movies from the beginning.
The opening moments deliberately evoke Top Gun, making the similarities to the Tom Cruise classic immediately apparent. Rather than hiding those influences, Goldstein and Daley build the film around them. Mayday plays like an affectionate tribute to the action cinema of the 1980s, combining the banter of Top Gun with the danger of Die Hard, the buddy dynamic of Lethal Weapon and the elaborate set pieces associated with Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Apple’s official description similarly frames the movie around the unlikely partnership between Troy and Nikolai, with the stranded pilot relying on the eccentric former KGB agent to survive.
The Cold War Gets a More Complicated Treatment
For all its affection for ’80s action movies, Mayday doesn’t completely embrace the black-and-white worldview that defined many films from that period.
The movie is fundamentally a tongue-in-cheek action comedy, but it avoids turning the United States into an uncomplicated force for good or Russia into a straightforward embodiment of evil. Instead, Goldstein and Daley give their characters motivations that exist beyond their national allegiances.
That approach also extends to the supporting cast.
Maria Bakalova appears in a small but notably human role as a Russian citizen fighting for a better world. Marcin Dorociński plays a government official who could easily have been reduced to a standard movie villain, yet the character is given motivations that make him more interesting than a simple antagonist.
That balance gives the Cold War setting more texture without pulling Mayday away from its primary purpose as a fast-moving action comedy.
Kenneth Branagh Unexpectedly Becomes the Action Star
Considering Reynolds’ history with the Deadpool movies, it would be easy to assume that Mayday would make him the undisputed action hero.
Instead, Branagh gets many of the movie’s best physical moments.
That choice makes sense within the story. Troy is a fighter pilot, not a highly trained hand-to-hand combat specialist. Nikolai, on the other hand, is a former KGB officer. When the fighting starts, he’s the one with the experience to handle it.
Branagh clearly embraces the opportunity.
His Nikolai can dispatch opponents with surprising speed and efficiency, including during a memorable bar fight. The performance gives Branagh room to combine physical comedy, deadpan humor and genuine action-star presence.
It also makes Nikolai one of the film’s most entertaining characters.
Branagh has played plenty of larger-than-life figures over the course of his career, but Nikolai gives him a particularly enjoyable combination of eccentricity and toughness. The character’s fascination with American culture adds another layer to the joke, especially when paired with Troy’s more conventional American bravado.
Ryan Reynolds Dials Back the Wisecracks
Reynolds, meanwhile, takes a somewhat different approach to his familiar screen persona.
Troy is still cocky and funny, but Reynolds doesn’t dominate every scene with one-liners. Instead, he often serves as the straight man opposite Branagh’s eccentric Russian.
That restraint helps the partnership work.
Reynolds and Branagh have an easy chemistry, and their contrasting personalities give the film much of its comedic rhythm. Reynolds brings the familiar charm, while Branagh gets to play the unpredictable wild card.
The pairing also suits Reynolds particularly well because of his long association with buddy comedies. Here, though, the dynamic feels more balanced than it might initially appear.
The result is a relationship that gradually becomes the emotional center of the movie. Troy and Nikolai may have very different backgrounds, but being trapped together behind enemy lines forces them to rely on one another.
Mayday Delivers Inventive Action
Branagh’s physical performance may be the most unexpected element of Mayday, but the movie’s action deserves equal credit.
Cinematographer Barry Peterson helps Goldstein and Daley turn the set pieces into some of the film’s most memorable sequences. The directors have already demonstrated a strong visual instinct in Game Night, particularly through its striking wide shots, and in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, with its elaborate castle escape shot.
That visual ambition carries over to Mayday.
The action frequently uses unusual perspectives and carefully constructed shots that make the viewer wonder how certain sequences were pulled off. The filmmakers aren’t content to simply point the camera at a fight and let the performers carry it.
There are moments where the movie leans a little too heavily on CGI, but those instances are relatively minor compared with the larger emphasis on practical action.
The hand-to-hand sequences especially benefit from that approach. An old-fashioned bar brawl provides one of the film’s standout fights, while a sprawling train chase sends Troy and Nikolai racing through multiple cars as they try to evade dozens of soldiers.
Those sequences give Mayday the physicality of an older action movie while maintaining the lighter tone of its comedy.
Goldstein and Daley Find Another Strong Genre Mix
By now, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley have demonstrated that they can move comfortably between comedy, action and genre filmmaking.
Their directorial debut, the Vacation reboot, didn’t establish them as major filmmaking names, but their subsequent work changed that perception. They previously demonstrated their screenwriting abilities with movies such as Horrible Bosses and Spider-Man: Homecoming, followed by Game Night in 2018 and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in 2023.
Game Night developed into a cult favorite, while Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves showed how effectively the pair could handle a large-scale fantasy adventure.
Their next major project will be a reboot of the Star Trek franchise, making Mayday a particularly interesting stop along the way.
Here, they once again show an ability to combine different genres without allowing one element to overwhelm the others. The Cold War setting supplies the stakes, the ’80s influences provide the personality, the action keeps the story moving, and the relationship between Troy and Nikolai gives the film its heart.
Is Mayday Worth Watching?
Mayday works best when it stops trying to make Ryan Reynolds the obvious star and lets the unlikely combination of Reynolds and Branagh carry the movie.
Branagh’s turn as an action hero is the biggest surprise, while Reynolds’ decision to rein in his usual quippiness gives Troy a different energy from many of his recent roles. Together, they make an entertaining pair.
The film’s action is equally important. From the bar fight to the elaborate train chase, Goldstein and Daley give the movie enough practical, inventive spectacle to stand apart from a routine streaming action comedy.
There are small imperfections, including some CGI that stands out more than it should, but they don’t undermine what the movie does well.
Ultimately, Mayday is a lively throwback to the Cold War action movies of the 1980s, filtered through the comedic sensibilities of Goldstein and Daley. It draws on familiar influences without being completely trapped by them, while its more nuanced treatment of its characters keeps the story from becoming a simple Americans-versus-Russians adventure.
And while Reynolds remains the film’s biggest name, Mayday belongs as much to Kenneth Branagh’s Nikolai Ustinov. His combination of action, comedy and eccentric charm gives the movie much of its personality.
Mayday premieres September 4, 2026, on Apple TV.