An action comedy immersed in the Cold War climate, on September 4 on Apple TV arrives Mayday with Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh catapultati in 1987. Directed and written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the film mixes action, espionage and comedy and looks openly at the cinema of the eighties. In fact, there is also the relationship with Top Gun, which in the film becomes one of the elements through which the particular personality of Nikolai Ustinov is told.
Mayday was born with the intention of recovering the tone of the comedies of action and of the Buddy movie that characterized the cinema of the eighties, but placing them in a story set during the Cold War. The directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, already behind Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: The honor of thieves, they wrote and directed the film trying to maintain a balance between action and humor. The project is an Apple Original Film produced by Skydance Media, with Ryan Reynolds as executive producer.
La trama di Mayday
It is 1987 and Lieutenant Troy “Assassin” Kelly, U.S. Navy pilot, is sent to Russian territory for a secret mission. However, the operation goes wrong and Troy finds himself isolated behind the enemy lines, in the middle of the Cold War. To find him is Nikolai Ustinov, a former KGB agent who lives far from society and who, despite his past, has a surprising passion for American culture. Troy should be an enemy, but Nikolai decides to help him survive and find a way out.
The problem is, after choosing to protect the American driver, Nikolai also becomes a target. The two are therefore forced to travel together, trying to escape the Soviet forces and reach a safe place. The mission thus turns into an escape through a hostile territory, during which differences between the two gradually leave room for an unlikely alliance.
Il cast
Ryan Reynolds plays Troy Kelly, a U.S. Navy driver used to move safely even in the most dangerous situations. Kenneth Branagh instead dresses the cloths of Nikolai Ustinov, former KGB agent who abandoned his past and lives isolated, while developing a true passion for America and its popular culture.
In the cast there are also Maria Bakalova, as Anna Ustinov, Marcin Dorociński as Alexander Volkov and David Morse, who plays Harold Kelly.
Cosa dice la stampa estera su Mayday?
The first international reviews highlighted the pair formed by Reynolds and Branagh. The Los Angeles Times considers the film a Buddy movie that combines Cold War, Top Gun and the 80s adventure cinema, highlighting the way the two protagonists work as a couple.
The Times also focused attention on Branagh’s performance, appreciating the transition to action comedy and the way he faces the many physical scenes of the film. The warhead assigned Mayday three stars. More articulate the Financial Times judgement, which sees in the film a tribute declared to the Eighties Buddy movie and recognizes its energy and humour, while observing that the story remains quite simple and that the call to Top Gun is repeated with great frequency.
RogerEbert, too. as it highlights the work of Branagh and the ability of directors to maintain rhythm and movement in the scenes of action, while reporting some limits in the secondary characters and a certain tendency of the film to continually emphasize its nature of homage to the cinema of the eighties.
L’articolo Mayday, Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh together behind the enemy lines: the new film on Apple TV comes from Dituttounpop.it.
