My Cultural Diet

We all know by now what we’re getting with a Ryan Reynolds film: quips, sarcasm, and lots of general smart-assery. Sometimes, as in the case of 2021’s Free Guy, that ends up being better than it has any right to be. But other times, Reynolds’ shtick gets real old, real fast (see 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine). Thankfully, Mayday leans closer to the former. In 1987, at the height of the Cold War, Lt. Troy Kelly is assigned to fly a top-secret spy mission over Russia in an SR-71 Blackbird. But when the mission goes awry and he’s shot down, Kelly’s only hope for survival is Nikolai Ustinov, who — luckily for our lieutenant — loves American culture. Much of the film’s fun comes from Reynolds’ cocky fighter pilot playing off Ustinov, a former KGB agent played drolly by Kenneth Branagh. There are the requisite moments when our two heroes learn a bit more about each other’s side: Kelly discovers that Russians are far from the Evil Empire that he’s been told, while Ustinov realizes that America isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be. The movie is too invested in the jokes and quips to explore such themes too deeply. However, I do confess that Kelly’s line about standing up to your country in order to stand up for it cuts to the quick in light of everything America has become thanks to Trump and MAGA. In fact, it almost felt subversive, and the fact that Reynolds is, in fact, Canadian, only adds to the line’s subversiveness. Which was more than I expected from this Apple Original.

I may earn an affiliate commission on items you buy through Opus. These commissions will go directly to support the site and my blogging.