‘Mayday’: Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh lead a Cold War action-comedy

‘Mayday’ follows American pilot Troy Kelly, callsign “Assassin”, after his spy plane is shot down over Soviet territory. He wakes from a coma in the forest cabin of Nikolai Ustinov, a retired KGB officer played by Kenneth Branagh.

The story is set in 1987, during the Cold War and the era of ‘Top Gun’ fandom in the United States. Ustinov secretly admires American culture and proposes that Troy remain in the cabin with him, watching a samizdat VHS copy of the film until the conflict ends.

Escape across Soviet territory

The pair instead break out together. They are pursued by Volkov, a Russian security operative, while their escape moves through speeding cars, a train they must jump from and an aircraft that becomes dangerous when gunfire erupts inside.

The final automotive sequences take place in and around Moscow. The film also features elaborate close-quarters fights, including martial-arts action for Branagh’s character.

Reynolds and Branagh as rivals

Troy is portrayed as a rule-breaking, wisecracking pilot who regularly takes reckless initiative. Ustinov is his opposite, but their forced partnership produces comic chemistry alongside constant arguments and barbs.

Writer-directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein combine spy adventure with broad farce. The film also introduces an unexpected queer theme near the end, though the source does not specify its exact content.