Deadline's review of "Mayday" praises the Skydance and Apple TV action comedy for its old-school, big-scale entertainment value, but laments that it was released only for streaming rather than in cinemas. The film, directed by John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein, is described as a Top Gun-meets-Midnight Run throwback in which a downed US Navy pilot and an eccentric ex-KGB agent form an unlikely alliance while fleeing across Cold War-era Russia.

Ryan Reynolds stars as pilot Troy "Assassin" Brennan, shot down over Russian territory and nursed back to health by Kenneth Branagh's Nikolai Ustinov, who turns out to be a disgruntled former KGB operative. The pair strike a deal to reach Moscow so Troy can help Nikolai defect, triggering a chase involving a hijacked nuclear-armed parade vehicle, with support from Marcin Dorocinski, Maria Bakalova and David Morse. The review singles out Branagh's performance as the standout, praising the film's chemistry, action and production values while calling its streaming-only release, from Friday on Apple TV, a missed cinematic opportunity.