★★½ (2½ out of 4)
If you asked me what I’d most want to see Sir Kenneth Branagh do next at the movies, I would definitely not say a streaming-only buddy comedy with quipster Ryan Reynolds. But that’s what the lesser gods of cinema have provided in “Mayday,” an Apple original film that could have been worse. Put that in the quote ads. Actually, credit this throwaway for sneaking in some goof stuff.
Sir Ken...I’ve known him for years so I can call him that, is no snob. You can tell he’s hungry to cut loose. And for another chance to do the outrageous Russian accent he tried for director Christopher Nolan in “Tenet.” Let the man relax. It can’t be Shakespeare every time or another go at his own life, a feat that won him an Oscar (his first) for original screenplay for 2021’s “Belfast.”
Sir Kenneth Branagh is really into the random comic lunacy. And his joy is contagious.
“In “Mayday,” a Cold War farce, set in 1987, Branagh plays Nikolai Ustinov, a former KGB agent (he’s dangerous) with all kinds off hidden agendas. But Nick, as he likes to be called, really loves America. His favorite movie is “Top Gun.” And he proves his love when Troy “Assassin” Kelly, the hotshot U.S. Navy pilot played by Reynolds, is shot down behind enemy lines and practically into Nick’s lap.
Instead of causing an international incident (Kelly really botched his hush-hush mission), Nick buddies up with this unlikely ally, the two sparring with each other as bullets fly or whatever else happens when the gloves come off. Credit Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the film’s writers and directors, for skillfully blending knockabout action and laughs.
They did that before in “Game Night” and their 2023 cult hit, “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” Video games make lousy movies, right? Not that time. Thanks to Goldstein and Daley and a cast of merry pranksters, especially Hugh Grant and a chubwub dragon, the big screen “D&D” cut through the digital chaos to create a goofball fantasy even a non-gamer could love.
At its best, “Mayday” catches some of that bizarro fire. Reynolds is doing his usual routine, tossing one-liners like grenades. But Branagh seems like a kid on a holiday, enjoying the gags, even the feeble ones about Big Macs and Bruce Springsteen. And he really seems committed to the spills, the punching and the pratfalls. He bashes heads with abandon in a raucous, rowdy, roaring bar fight that plays like early Bruce Willis. Shoutout to the ‘80s! You don’t feel that Sir Ken is slumming, doing this nonsense while dreaming of taking another crack at “King Lear.” He’s really into this random comic lunacy. And his joy is contagious.
Goldstein and Daley know how to pace the hell out of a white-knuckle thrill ride. Just wait till you see our heroes evade the KGB on a speeding train running through multiple cars. Branagh directed three thrillers on the Orient Express, but this one is a real banger. And there are actual stakes in the predicament faced by Kelly and Nick. The American’s mission is so secret there’s no one around to save him. And Nick could be facing charges of treason for aiding and abetting this Yankee joke bag. The personal stuff—Kelly has a sick father (David Morse) and Nick a daughter (Maria Bakalova) he wants to defect with him—doesn’t have enough time to develop. But the script surprises by adding complications that reveal both countries as equal opportunity offenders.
I should point out that Labor Day weekend is traditionally a dead zone for movies, lined up for streaming. It’s a time for pounding down beers and burgers and letting the kids run wild before summer ends, schools starts and jobs escalate the pressure. A movie saddled with a release date on this holiday is fighting an uphill battle. But “Mayday” deserves a shot. A new franchise called “Deadpool and Ustinov” would be pushing it. But watching Branagh flex his action muscles is definitely not to be missed.