Mayday
Action packed, hilarious and super powered by Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh, MAYDAY is a relentlessly perfect tribute to a classic 80's action film.
Thanks to excellent creatives and a big AppleTV budget, it never lets up, walloping you with big action scenes in the spirit of everything from "Top Gun" to "Firefox" with big laughs and a bit of heart to perfect the mix.
Reynolds is in"Spirited" form as hotshot navy pilot Troy "Assassin" Kelly, leading a 1987 top secret mission on a massive covert jet (I kept waiting for Clint Eastwood to walk into the hanger as a rival pilot) into Soviet territory.
When he's forced to bail out, in a sequence that's so damn good visually I had to rewind twice to marvel at the craft involved, he lands nearby the secluded farm of mysterious Russian citizen Nikolai Ustinov (Branagh).
From their first scene together, Reynolds & Branagh execute perfect buddy duo chemistry. Of course the comraderie might be a bit hard to come by at first, with Troy tied to the bed by Nikolai.
It soon becomes clear that half the Russian army is going to be descending on Nikolai's quiet, snowbound cabin and the duo begin a long trek to escape the country.
While some of the story points may be predictable, the sheer scale of their adventures is jaw dropping, as are many of the twists and turns they encounter along the way.
Branagh proves himself a very capable action star, beating the hell out of half his country's comrades while Reynolds delivers perfectly timed one liners that Stallone and Schwarzenegger would have died to use in the 80's. Branagh even performed most of his own stunts and is always believable. Yes that is really his own arm on fire.
Writer/Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein already shocked me with the terrific wit and adventure of their under seen "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" in 2023 and they're in fine form here.
They capture the American spirit and patriotism of the "First Blood"/ "Iron Eagle" genre of 80's action films, but ratchet it up with special effects that were never possible back in the day and two guys at the core that we love cheering for.
Several action set pieces are stellar, equaling any recent Bond film in scale and execution.
The boys car and tank/missile transport chase rivals a similar scene in OO7's "Goldeneye" and Nikolai's ability to set clever and very explosive traps kept me laughing one massive fire mushroom cloud after another.
Another chase that escalates into a gunfight aboard an aircraft conjures up great memories of "The Living Daylights", but its conclusion escalates into very uncharted and unexpected territory that kept me on the edge of my seat.
The Mayday machine is pure fun.
Any escape film is only as good as its villain and senior Russian military operative Alexander Volkov is a hell of a bad guy, well played by Marcin Dorocinski (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning). He's savvy, politically motivated and has an entire army at his disposal. Will he catch our buddy duo?
With just the right mix of heart and observations about the people behind the politicians, MAYDAY serves up an amazing 80's action flick in all its loud, rock and roll music wrapped, buddy comedy glory.
I loved it. I'll give it an A as soon as I can get the smile off my face.
Reynolds interactions with that young Soviet boy at the dinner table might be the funniest thing I've seen all year.....
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