Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 51 minutes, Directors – John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
US Navy pilot Troy (Ryan Reynolds) is shot down over Cold War Russia, his only hope of getting back is America-obsessed former KGB agent Nikolai (Kenneth Branagh).
Ryan Reynolds is trying. After falling back into his Deadpool schtick, which only really works when playing Deadpool, he’s once again trying to not give the same performance in each film. The problem is, he doesn’t seem entirely comfortable in John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s latest action-comedy, Mayday. Thus, he often slips back into out-of-place wisecracks and wry, eye-rolling comments about those around him, in the vein of his Marvel antihero.
Slotting right into place, however, is Kenneth Branagh’s Nikolai. A former KGB agent with a fondness for America; after watching a pirated copy of Top Gun and listening to the same Springsteen cassette on a loop for years, his dream is to go to McDonalds and Reynolds’ Troy may help him achieve that. Having been shot down over Cold War Russia, the navy pilot is taken in by Nikolai, with the pair teaming up to get to safety without Russian forces closing in on them.
Daley and Goldstein switch things up a bit from the likes of Game Night and Dungeons And Dragons: Honour Among Thieves with some more 87North style action, particularly when Branagh contrasts the slightly, although enjoyably, cartoon accent with a punchy bar fight in a cramped room – forcing faces to tables, bottles and the bar itself. It’s such moments that the film finds its biggest drive and you can feel the momentum of the moment. As fast-paced action is being tracked and the characters are frantically moving around, trying to find or fight for an escape, there’s a quicker movement to the overall film that brings about more enjoyment.
More dialogue-based scenes while having some chuckles every now and then can feel slower and occasionally as if simply acting as bridges between the louder sequences, particularly in the chaos of the concluding stages. It’s where Reynolds appears to be most uncertain about his performance and stands out the most, whilst trying his best to work with the writer-directors and the style they’re bringing to this.
When truly bouncing off of Branagh, with his questions about America, what happens in the section of Top Gun where the man filming in the cinema goes to the toilet or simply sudden hiding places – one extended sequence involving the characters hiding in a cupboard is a hysterical highlight revelling in layered awkwardness as nothing can be said – there’s a more relaxed nature overall and a likable buddy aspect to both the characters and the film. The tonal blend may not quite flow as well throughout this film as in the filmmakers’ previous studio flicks (with this going straight to Apple TV+) but there’s still an amusing, if occasionally bumpy buddy – where the dysfunctional doesn’t always land in the right way – escape flick to be found here.
An occasionally bumpy ride as Reynolds tries to fit in with his non-Deadpool surroundings, Branagh brings much of the comedy, and successfully leads the swift action, in a film that feels most confident when it has an idea, or sequence, to truly run instead of bridge with.
Just A Little Bit Random 