

Where to Watch Mayday
- Mayday came up automatically after I finished Silo season three, and I went with it largely because “Cold War action comedy with Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh” sounded too odd to ignore. Worth keeping. The main reason is the Reynolds-Branagh pairing, particularly Branagh as Nikolai Ustinov, an ex-KGB operative with formidable old skills and a wonderfully imperfect idea of America based on bootleg Top Gun, Springsteen and fast food. Reynolds works well as the foil, and his usual persona feels slightly more controlled than it sometimes does. The other major attraction is the production design. This is a good-looking period film without everything feeling scrubbed for a showroom. The snow, cabin interiors, battered American contraband, Soviet housing, trains, offices, parade imagery and military vehicles give it much more visual character than I expected from a streaming action comedy. Barry Peterson’s photography helps too, particularly in keeping the action readable. It is not especially deep. Anna and Harold could use more development, the 1980s nostalgia occasionally becomes a little indiscriminate, and the film raises political questions that it mostly resolves with friendship, explosions and a stolen missile launcher. On balance, I think that is probably preferable to a Ryan Reynolds Cold War comedy attempting to solve geopolitics. The ending works for me: Troy forcing the issue of Nikolai’s asylum, then using what he has learned about his father to demand accountability back home, gives both leads an actual journey. Nikolai finally reaching McDonald’s is exactly the sort of modest payoff the film needs. Good rewatch value, especially when I want something fast, attractive and cheerfully old-fashioned.
- Mayday (2026). When this movie started, for a moment I thought we were getting some kind of remake of Firefox (1982), the Clint Eastwood movie with the stolen Soviet fighter. No such luck. Instead, Mayday is a Cold War comedy. Not bad. Not particularly good either. It entertains well enough with a joke here, some physical comedy there, and a generally easygoing tone that never asks too much from you. But after a while, the silliness starts to take over. And then there is Ryan Reynolds. At this point, Reynolds basically plays Ryan Reynolds in every movie. Same delivery. Same sarcasm. Same expressions. Same character wearing a different costume. That can still work in small doses, but eventually it becomes predictable. And predictable becomes boring. Still, this is not a terrible movie. It is light, occasionally funny, and easy enough to sit through. Just do not go in expecting Firefox. You are getting Reynolds in a Soviet jet. Thanks for reading.
- It's alright. I won't ever watch it again and I'll probably forget that I ever even saw this movie, but it was a good fun watch. Between this and Free Guy, I'm really hoping that Reynolds role choices aren't tanking because I've been not into a lot of his recent stuff. To be honest, Branaugh's character "Nick" was the real compelling actor this whole movie. I just wanted more Nick and less Troy (Reynolds) whining. Troy whines a LOT in this movie.
Get Plex on Your Devices
Free on 20+ platforms. Pick yours.Mayday Trivia
Mayday was released on September 4, 2026.
Mayday was directed by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley.
Mayday has a runtime of 1h 51m.
Mayday was produced by Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Ashley Fox, Jonathan Goldstein, David Ellison, John Francis Daley, Johnny Pariseau, Howard Ellis, Adam Goodman, Gergö Balika.
Lieutenant Troy Kelly takes part in a top secret surveillance mission over Soviet airspace. Things take a sharp turn, however, when he is forced to eject from his plane over the Russian wilderness. He is rescued by a paradoxical Russian native and the two begin to appreciate both their differences and commonalities.
The key characters in Mayday are Troy Kelly (Ryan Reynolds), Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh), Alexander Volkov (Marcin Dorociński).
Mayday is rated PG-13.
Mayday is an Action, Adventure, Comedy film.
Mayday has an audience rating of 6.8 out of 10.
























