MAYDAY Review

AppleTV Plus is, from what I understand, THE destination for high quality TV programs in the 2020's.

I say that I only understand that to be the case because I don't watch a lot of serialized television. I'm much more of a movie guy. TV series, to me, are a little arduous in how in-depth they are. I have two hours to watch a movie, yes. I don't have ten hours to give to a ten episode series of hour-long episodes.

And then they take YEARS between seasons nowadays. I'm lucky if I remember the show I was watching two years ago still exists, much less what happened in it! So what are my options? Wait until a series is wrapped up and watch it all at once, after the fact? Well after everyone's done talking about it, and I'll be left alone? And where am I going to find the FORTY OR FIFTY HOURS needed to watch a whole show like that?

So I don't watch many shows. I just do films instead. Everyone wins. Mostly me.

That said, I've certainly heard of Apple Plus' programming. Widow's Bay and Severance and Silo and Shrinking. I know people dig all of these.

(This is how out of touch I am, actually, as my mid-article research unveiled that the streaming service is called AppleTV, not Apple Plus. I could have sworn AppleTVs were, like, the actual television you bought at the store that came with the service)

AppleTV actually does movies, too, though! They aren't limited just to awards-sweeping series. And recently, they offered up a new picture starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh called Mayday. The potential quality of AppleTV combined with the minimal commitment required for a film? I'm in!

Mayday is the story of Troy, a naval fighter pilot in 1987 who is tasked with co-piloting a spy mission in the Soviet Union. When his plane is shot down, Troy finds himself in The Middle Of Nowhere, Russia... and saved by a man named Nikolai.

Nik has a fevered passion for American culture, though, and he sees himself as Troy's friend and savior. Together, the two of them seek to get out of the USSR for good.

TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS

+ Ryan Reynolds seemingly has chemistry with anyone, and Kenneth Branagh is just a superb actor; they are a wonderful pairing here. They just play off of each other so seamlessly, and you see Branagh in actual extended fight sequences and it's wild! I never pictured him as an action adventure actor, but perhaps I have just been watching the wrong movies of his.

Regardless, I had a really good time following these characters on their journey and in their misadventures across Russia. Now... is Reynolds just doing the usual Ryan Reynolds routine we have seen so many times in the past decade? Sure, and more on that in a second. But when he is not a solo lead and gets to ply his gimmick off of another talented actor, it can find ways to feel fresh.

+ Finally, a movie that is set in the 1980’s for a reason! I am so tired of movies being set in that era simply for nostalgia and no other purpose. It feels like a never-ending stream of pictures take themselves back to the age of neon and spandex without thinking of why the plot would be better served there. Sometimes it's as simple as "the mere invention of cell phones would be devastating to our plot", but why is it always the 1980's?

This movie, however, is about The Cold War! Now, granted, that also doesn't NEED to have been set in the 1980's since the international conflict lasted for decades, but it's still got a much better claim to that timeframe than half the stuff that comes out and puts its stamp on it. So I'll allow it!

- I wouldn’t have said No to more of Maria Bakalova. Not only is she generally a talented actress, but her story here was interesting. I wish we had more of it. What we get is about ten minutes of screen time for her, and then the film writes her out as easily as it wrote her in. She gets some good moments with Reynolds and Branagh, but isn't that all the more reason to keep her included?

I don't know. Maybe her character being left behind is more integral to the plot. I can see why the screenwriters chose to go in this direction. I can! But there is potentially a more satisfying ending to this movie where she follows the action and stays involved.

- No one here is really flexing their cinematic muscles. As I noted above, Reynolds is doing his usual shtick, and the plot is pretty general and nothing you haven’t seen versions of before. It's a loose interpretation of the buddy cop formula set in the era of the buddy cop feature. It's got Cold War action beats, and it also has a modern "We're not so different, you and I" spin to the proceedings. It's piecemealing together a Frankenmovie from various other tropes and conceits.

That's not always bad. Good ideas are good ideas for a reason. But this was an Apple Plus TV production, and given the way folks fawn over their television series, you'd think this movie would be groundbreaking in some way. But it really is Just Another Movie. A fun one, for sure, but there's nothing extraordinary or brand new about it.

OVERALL

I found Mayday to be a nice little empty-calorie comfort food of a flick. I laughed several times, and the leads kept me watching and not tempted to screw around on my phone instead. Given how many films I watch at home, that feels like a low bar, but hey... phones are pretty awesome. I would recommend this to anyone except curmudgeons who claim they are sick of Ryan Reynolds. It's enjoyable!

🍿 SCORE = 70/100