On the surface, Mayday, the new Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh movie that began streaming on Apple TV+ today, looks like just another action comedy with Russian villains.
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that → begin → villains
And while Mayday isn’t quite brave enough to actually critique America in any meaningful way, it does take a cheeky swipe at our “every man for himself” mentality, with one perfectly-timed joke.
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it → critique → joke
Written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley—the duo behind Game Night and the recent Dungeons and Dragons movie—Mayday stars Reynolds as a U.S. Navy pilot named Troy, who crash lands behind enemy lines in Soviet Russia in 1987, during the Gorbachev years of the Cold War.
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who → write → War
Troy loves America, loves capitalism, and, like any good U.S. soldier, hates the oppressive Russian communist rule.
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Troy → love → rule
“Collectivism is always at the cost of individual freedom,” Troy informs his Army buddies during a night out on the town.
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Troy → inform → town
Sure, it’s a little on the nose—a little too eloquent and philosophical for a drunk Air Force pilot—but it signals to the viewers that this is not, in fact, just another “Russia bad, America good” action comedy.
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America → ’ → fact
This is a movie that is going to, if not subvert that trope (which it ultimately did not, to my disappointment), at least inject a little more nuance into it.
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it → go → it
When a spy mission goes wrong, Troy finds himself injured and trapped in the remote home of Russian carpenter, Nikolai Ustinov (Branagh, doing a very fun, very silly Russian accent).
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himself → go → accent
Nikolai—or, Nick, as he insists Troy call him—idolizes American capitalism.
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Troy → insist → capitalism
He dreams of someday eating McDonalds.
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He → dream → McDonalds
To live in the U.S. Troy strikes up a deal: If Nick helps him get out of Russia, he’ll pull some strings and get Nick legal passage to the U.S.
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he → live → U.S.
One adventure leads them to the home of an impoverished Russian family.
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adventure → lead → family
Having just escaped another scrape, Troy and Nick are out in the cold, hungry and tired.
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Troy → escape → cold
They need shelter for the night.
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They → need → night
Despite Troy’s apprehension, Nick knocks on the door of a nearby home, and asks for help.
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Nick → knock → help
And, to Troy’s shock, it’s that easy.
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it → ’ → shock
The family takes them in, welcomes them, and feeds them a hot meal.
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family → take → meal
While eating, Nick relays to Troy that family is very poor, and barely has enough food to themselves.
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family → eat → themselves
“Then why would they let us in?” Troy asks, bewildered.
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Troy → let → us
“If someone came to the door in America and asked for help, wouldn’t they be taken in?” Nick replies, still assuming the best about this country he idolizes.
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he → come → country
Troy stares at Nick blankly for a moment, before he rushes to say, “Of course they would!” with a nervous chuckle.
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they → star → chuckle
The answer satisfies Nick.
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answer → satisfy → Nick
But the audience hears the joke, thanks to Reynold’s spot-on timing and subtle indicators in his performance.
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audience → hear → performance
In fact, Troy is not certain that a stranger would be taken in if they knocked on a door in the U.S. and asked for help.
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they → take → help
It’s 1987, Reagan is president, greed is good, and a man’s home is his castle.
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home → ’ → ?
It’s an American homeowner’s right to demand strangers stay off their private property.
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strangers → ’ → property
This scene is as close as the movie ever gets to an endorsement of collectivism and an indictment of individualism.
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movie → get → individualism
Later, Troy will admit his country isn’t “perfect,” but doesn’t really go into details as to why that is.
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that → admit → details
But this one small moment says so much.
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moment → say → much
If not for the spirit of collectivism, of sharing resources—the same ideas Troy dismissed at the beginning of the film—Troy may not have made it out of Russia alive.
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Troy → share → Russia
In the end, Mayday still indulges in the “evil Russian villain” trope.
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Mayday → indulge → trope
But thanks to that one perfect joke, it does so with considerable more nuance than the vast majority of American action flicks.
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it → do → flicks
For a Ryan Reynolds comedy, funded by one of America’s biggest corporations, that’s pretty impressive.
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that → fund → corporations
