Kenneth Branagh, a British actor who has made a habit of playing Russians, takes on his most comedic role yet in "Mayday," a Cold War action-comedy debuting on Apple TV this week. The film, directed and written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, stars Ryan Reynolds as Lt. Troy "Assassin" Kelly, a U.S. Navy pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1987, and Branagh as Nikolai Ustinov, an ex-KGB agent who rescues him.
Branagh's Russian repertoire
Branagh previously played a vindictive oligarch in "Tenet" and a villainous industrialist in "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," the Associated Press noted. "Mayday" may be the first time his particular language skills have been used for comedy, the review added. As Nikolai, he fights like Jason Bourne, has a beard like Grizzly Adams, and loves "Top Gun" with every ounce of his being, according to the Hartford Courant.
Nikolai lives a solitary life in the woods until Troy crash-lands in his backyard. He has watched a bootleg VHS of "Top Gun" over 100 times, telling Troy the movie confirmed "all of my beliefs about your people." He also keeps a cassette of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." that he plays repeatedly in his car, per the Associated Press. He plans to nurse Troy back to strength with bear stew and beet-based booze, hiding him until the Cold War ends.
The film is a Skydance Media production, rated PG-13 for violence and action, some strong language, suggestive references and smoking, with a running time of 112 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes per the Courant). It debuts on Apple TV on Sept. 4.
A mismatched buddy comedy
Troy is described as a quintessentially Reynolds character — snarky, sarcastic, and full of himself — while also being fairly generic, the Associated Press wrote. His Reynolds-isms only work when playing against Branagh, however. "It's hard to say whether anyone intended for Branagh to be the real star of this film, or if that's just what happened, but he is the one with the arc, with the comedy, with the soul," the AP review observed. "Reynolds is mainly there to react."
The casting includes Maria Bakalova as Anna, Nikolai's daughter, and Marcin Dorocinski as Alexander Volkov, a Soviet official, the Courant reported. David Morse plays Troy's ill father. The plot centers on Troy's off-the-books CIA mission as copilot of an SR-71 Blackbird, which his superior officer calls the fastest and highest-flying aircraft in the world. When the aircraft is felled, Troy wakes up to a "Top Gun" poster of Tom Cruise in Nikolai's home.
Both reviews praise the film's irreverent tone. The Courant highlights the "bromance" between the two leads and calls the film "delightful," crediting the ensemble and the directing team. The AP review is more measured, noting that the film's effectiveness owes much to Branagh's performance, while expressing some reservations about its timing and credibility. "It's hard to shake the feeling," the AP wrote, though exactly what feeling remains unclear in the excerpt.
A matter of timing
Set in 1987, decades into the frosty U.S.-Soviet relationship, "Mayday" arrives at a moment when the Cold War has long ended, adding a layer of nostalgia. Nikolai's admiration for American culture — from "Top Gun" to Springsteen — serves as a running gag, but also a source of character depth. The AP notes the filmmakers "seem to be both skeptics and fans" of the material they parody.
The film's action sequences and comedic beats are standard for the genre, but Branagh's performance elevates it, the reviews agree. As the AP puts it, Nikolai Ustinov "may just be the hero we didn't know we needed."