Mayday, on Apple TV+

Thanks to Top Gun, 1987 was a fun year to be a Naval aviator—except for Lt. Troy “Assassin” Kelly. He will be shot down over the Soviet Union flying a top-secret spy flight. Those who understand Navy tradition know call signs are created to be mockingly ironic, so “Assassin” is probably ill-suited for behind enemy lines urban warfare. However, he meets a Russian with precisely such a skillset. Whether he can fully trust mysterious Nikolai Ustinov is another question in director-screenwriters John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein’s Mayday, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+.

The super high-tech spy flight will be crewed by a humorless, uptight Air Force pilot and a wise-cracking, flying-by-the-seat-of-his pants Naval aviator. Logically, the Naval aviator will be played by Ryan Reynolds. Tragically, Captain Sanders will not survive the crash. As it happens, the ejection shakes up Kelly pretty badly as well, but Ustinov, a bushy haired recluse, successfully performs the necessary treatment in his cabin.

Although rustic, Ustinov’s home is filled with American pop culture contraband, including a bootleg copy of Top Gun that plays almost constantly. Given his enthusiasm for America, Ustinov assures Kelly that he will not turn him over to the KGB. Nevertheless, he is reluctant to help the pilot escape from the USSR, because he fully understands the dangers that would entail—only too well. After all, Ustinov used to serve in the KGB, before his estranged daughter’s conscience shamed him into retirement.

The stakes are higher than either man realizes, because KGB spymaster Alexander Volkov intends to use Kelly to discredit Glasnost and undermine Gorbachev. Of course, he must capture “Assassin” before he can extract a false confession of attempted assassination.

As action comedies go, Mayday does a fairly nice job balancing the laughs with the mayhem. Most of grizzled old Ustinov’s fight scenes have a comedic tone, but the hard-charging stunt work is still impressive. Staging the big set-piece chase scene amid the annual militaristic May Day parade represents a flash of subversive inspiration. There are also two nicely executed aerial scenes.

Not surprisingly, Reynolds talks a mile-a-minute as Kelly, but he has a facility for such one-liners. Kelly’s loving and dutiful relationship with his cancer-stricken father Harold also greatly humanizes the hotshot pilot. Plus, Kenneth Branagh clearly had jolly good time playing the lethal Ustinov, who looks like Rasputin, but fights like John Wick.

Maria Balakova is fine, but unremarkable as Anna Ustinov. In contrast, David Morse brings more dignity and pathos to ailing Kelly Sr. than viewers have a right to expect from a jokey buddy-movie. Polish thesp Marcin Dorocinski is convincingly cold and calculating as Volkov, notably playing against type, since he is known for films like Jack Strong and Rose, which incisively critiqued oppressive Communist-era Polish regime.

Perhaps most importantly, Mayday reflects a consistent love for the 1980s. It was a time when pop culture, especially the now-classic Top Gun, largely advanced America’s prestige and reputation. (The only recent movie that comparably projects American military strength and confidence would obviously be Top Gun: Maverick.) Admittedly, Reynolds’ portrayal of Kelly emphasizes sarcasm, which isn’t entirely inaccurate, but he also clearly depicts his courage and dedication to duty. Consequently, Kelly might be one of the most accurate and respectful American military characters of the year.

That alone is more than enough to recommend Mayday, while the cinematic action sequences further strengthen the case. Recommended for its treatment of the Navy and its 80’s nostalgia, Mayday starts streaming Friday (9/4) on Apple TV+.