In a recent article over at The AV Club, Kyle Turner explored why so many movies share the same washed-out, medium lighting look. The short answer is because of digital cameras and less production time, with an emphasis on “we’ll fix it in post.” But even if you don’t have the freedom of a Christopher Nolan or a Denis Villeneuve to make your film looks astounding during production, sharp directors still know how to craft memorable images. I would also argue you also need to have a strong understanding of composition if you want to make visual gags play, and so it speaks to the talents of directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, as well as their cinematographer Barry Peterson, they they’ve taken the cozy, buddy road trip story of “Mayday” and made a film that’s visually exciting even if the narrative itself is fairly familiar.
Starting in medias res (this is a streaming movie, after all) where Navy pilot Troy Kelly (Ryan Reynolds) has crashed in the Russian wilderness, we cut back to learn he’s a bit of a lone wolf, and close to only his father (David Morse). It’s 1987, and the Cold War has been roiling for about 40 years now. Troy has swallowed the typical U.S. propaganda about how all Soviets hate our freedom, etc. and happily goes up to fly a spy mission. When his plane is shot down over enemy territory, he’s rescued by Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh), an ex-KGB agent who absolutely loves American culture and dreams of one day coming to our country. With enemy agents closing in on Troy, Nikolai resolves to help the American pilot get to safety and join him in leaving the USSR.
For those who have seen Daley & Goldstein’s previous movies like “Game Night” and “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” it should come as no surprise that they’ve once again endeavored to go beyond what’s typically expected of comedies. Where even most blockbusters appear to coast on flat lighting and medium shots, “Mayday” remains constantly playful, finding unique approaches that make the movie stand out against its streaming and even theatrical peers.
It’s not only that they know how to capture dynamic set pieces, like a scene where Nikolai beats up a bunch of guys in a bar who are attacking Troy, but they also know when to hold for the most effective laugh. They’re also not afraid to slow things down, like when Nikolai attempts to reconcile with his estranged daughter (Maria Bakalova) and the movie uses a lovely green light from the outside street to add some color to the moment.
These visual touches go a long way when everything within the story is fairly standard stuff. Ryan Reynolds must really love playing this particular smart-ass character because there’s not much daylight between Troy and guys like Clint Briggs (“Spirited”), Adam (“The Adam Project”) and Nolan Booth (“Red Notice”). It’s not even that he’s bad at it, but you know exactly what you’re getting from a Reynolds performance at this point.
Thankfully, he’s got a nice foil in Branagh, who has played a Russian before in “Tenet” and “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” but never one so cuddly and endearing as Nikolai. Not only is the 65-year-old Branagh convincing in the action scenes, but he manages the difficult trick of convincing us that a hardened ex-KGB agent would so cheerfully embrace everything about America.
The Cold War confines make “Mayday” an odd sort of movie, because it’s clear that it wants to be a throwback, not only with its overt references to “Top Gun,” but also in the mismatched buddy road-trip comedy that was a highlight of ‘80s cinema like “Midnight Run” and “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.” That seems to be the tone that Daley and Goldstein are going for with a bit more action panache, and yet they’re also aware that the rah-rah jingoism of a film like “Top Gun” is outdated.
Part of Troy’s journey is learning that America isn’t perfect and that not every Soviet is a bad person (this is also where Reynolds’ casting is a bit wonky because as young as he looks, it’s tough at this point in his career to pretend he’s the naïve young pilot the movie needs him to be; to put it another way, Tom Cruise was 24 when he made “Top Gun,” and Reynolds is almost 50). This casts the movie in an almost post-America framework where it’s not so much our professed values or what our government does that makes America great—it’s our culture, and therefore our brands. Nikolai’s big dream is to one day eat at a McDonald’s.
For some, the underlying simplicity may be too much to bear, but Daley and Goldstein keep “Mayday” light and cheerful enough to keep the film flying. That’s not necessarily to say, “don’t think too hard about it,” but rather that it’s a buddy comedy first, and a conversation with its ‘80s inspirations second. For a film you can pop on for streaming, “Mayday” punches above its weight class simply by looking like something the directors thoughtfully approached rather than “content” to fill the platform. While I wish the rest of the movie were as ambitious as the visuals, there are still good laughs to be found within the genre’s familiar confines.
Mayday is streaming on Apple TV starting Sept. 4.