Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh Turn a Crashed Recon Mission Into Apple TV’s Sharpest Cold War Surprise Yet in Mayday

Apple TV+ has just released the first teaser for Mayday, a Cold War thriller that already offers more than your typical spy thriller after just one minute of viewing. Ryan Reynolds plays Lieutenant Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a Navy pilot on a top-secret SR-71 surveillance mission that goes catastrophically wrong and crashes deep into the Soviet Union. Kelly is wounded, left to fend for himself, stuck in enemy territory, and his chances of survival are dependent on an unlikely ally.

Kenneth Branagh plays Nikolai Ustinov, a gruff old KGB veteran who arrives on the downed pilot and, rather of handing him over to the authorities, begins patching him up. What distinguishes this gruff ex-KGB guy is his genuine fondness for all things American. He enjoys watching movies, listening to music, and everything else. You can already see how that will put him at odds with Kelly’s more down-to-earth, no-nonsense approach, and the trailer already shows how their mutual distrust evolves into a bit of a partnership, albeit reluctantly at first.

Mayday is directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who have previously demonstrated their abilities in films such as Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. They’re bringing the same great blend of action and laugh-out-loud moments to Mayday. Rather than throwing rapid-fire cuts at you, they’re going for longer takes, which makes the combat scenes easier to follow, in a way reminiscent of Jackie Chan’s early flicks. Branagh is also no slouch behind the camera, as he appears to have performed many of the stunts himself and collaborated with the stunt unit to arrange his combat scenes before even arriving on location. This means that the film’s action feels raw and gritty rather than too smooth.

The film’s producer, David Ellison, who is also a pilot, went to great lengths to ensure that the flight sequences were accurate, despite the fact that the US military provided no assistance. Mayday will be available for Apple TV+ on September 4, and first impressions so far are positive. Reynolds and Branagh appear to be on top of their game when they’re on screen together, and now we’ll have to see if this Cold War-inspired thriller can take a decades-old premise and make it feel new to a modern audience.