Mayday: Easygoing Cold War thrills

Mayday (2026) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five); rated PG-13, for violence, action and fleeting profanity

Available via: Apple TV+

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 9.13.26

This film’s lighthearted, mismatched-buddies-in-peril tone notwithstanding, co-directors and writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein deserve credit for inserting a strong message relevant to our times:

 

Don’t let government propaganda and assumptions about “the other” interfere with our individual ability to judge people based on their character and behavior.

 

Evading KGB pursuers was hard enough when Nikolai (Kenneth Branagh, center) had
only his new friend Troy (Ryan Reynolds) to worry about .... but matters get even more
intense when Nikolai's daughter (Maria Bakalova) enters the picture.

The year is 1987, toward the end of the U.S./Soviet Cold War. Despite U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s initial belief that the Soviets were dangerous and immoral, his tone has softened following Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise to power in 1985. Even so, U.S. military forces remain on constant alert for signs of nuclear build-up.

Following a training drill during which U.S. Navy fighter pilot Lt. Troy Kelly (Ryan Reynolds) demonstrates “the right stuff” during the unconventional rescue of a wingman, he’s selected for a special reconnaissance op. The CIA-sponsored mission: to surveille suspected missile silos 1,200 miles inside the Soviet border.

 

To Kelly’s unhappy surprise, he’s relegated to co-pilot status, responsible solely for running the camera. Their long-range, high-altitude SR-71 Blackbird instead will be flown by Air Force pilot Maj. Pete Sanders (Louis Cancelmi, appropriately condescending), an insufferable jerk with the typical Air Force bias against Navy pilots.

 

Sanders pays for that hubris in the worst possible way, when they’re intercepted by a Soviet MiG. The quick-thinking Kelly manages to destroy the MiG — quite improbably, which signals the tone this film will take — and eject. But debris destroys his parachute as snow-covered terra firma appears below, and his final fall results in a bad leg injury. His last conscious image is of an approaching cloaked figure, carrying a nasty-looking rifle...

 

...who, when Kelly regains consciousness, turns out to be benevolent Nikolai Ustinov (Kenneth Branagh), a former KGB officer turned passionate admirer of American culture in general, and his bootlegged VHS copy of the movie “Top Gun” in particular.

Reality: A tantalizing mystery

Reality (2023) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated TV-MA, for dramatic intensity

Available via: HBO and MAX

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 6.2.23

Following a brief prologue, as a young woman drives to her home with a load of groceries, a text block informs us that “The FBI documented the following events with an audio recorder. The dialogue in this movie is taken entirely from the transcript of that recording.”

 

It begins innocuously, as FBI agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchánt Davis)
discuss little more than superficial topics with Reality Leigh Winner (Sydney Sweeney).
But the tone soon becomes much more serious...

Director Tina Satter’s fascinating little film isn’t a documentary; it’s a drama built from an unconventional “script” … and also is adapted from her 2019 play, This Is a Room. (That must’ve been riveting, given the intensity of a live stage performance.)

This version is fueled by a powerful performance from Sydney Sweeney, who recently competed against herself with Emmy Award nominations for The White Lotus and Euphoria (losing both, alas).

 

It’s impossible to take your eyes off her, whether in group shots or cinematographer Paul Yee’s probing close-ups. Sweeney’s expressions and posture range from blithely unconcerned to cheerfully animated, defiant to guilt-ridden. What’s most mesmerizing — and horrifying — is the degree to which her very “being” is incrementally taken apart, as these events proceed: like a jigsaw puzzle being disassembled, piece by piece.

 

The date is June 3, 2017, the setting Augusta, Georgia. The improbably named Reality Leigh Winner (Sweeney), 26 years old, has just returned from the aforementioned shopping trip. She’s greeted by two men who identify themselves as FBI agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchánt Davis).

 

They have questions.

 

Garrick, establishing himself as the congenial point guy, hastens to ensure that Reality understands her cooperation is voluntary (but never suggests that she contact a lawyer). He and Taylor further explain that they have a search warrant for her home (which they don’t bother to show her).

 

Reality is agreeable and cooperative; her gaze suggests confusion, bewilderment and just the right amount of concern. She seems an honest citizen, who wants to do the right thing … and yet she also doesn’t quite mask the undercurrent of terror that folks often experience, in the presence of unexpected authority.

 

Besides, the dynamic is just a little off. Garrick and Taylor appear to be going from some invisible, carefully rehearsed script. Despite the former’s jovial smile, they radiate censure and mild hostility. What are they after? What did she do… if anything?

 

(This incident flew beneath my radar, in the summer of 2017; ergo, Satter’s film remained an intriguing mystery until its third act, which won’t be the case with anybody who remembers how things went down back then. But if you’re similarly unaware, don’t spoil the suspense by researching Winner ahead of time.)

 

Garrick is friendly and sympathetic, particularly when Reality expresses concern about her pets: a frisky dog that “doesn’t like men” — Taylor snaps to wary attention — and a cat that won’t come out from under her bed. The two agents soon are joined by several carloads more, most notably a hulking guy (Benny Elledge) whose bored expression suggests impatience regarding the “dance” being choreographed by Garrick and Taylor.

 

Reality nonetheless is allowed to secure her pets (for which we are profoundly grateful).