While fans like his sass, actor Ryan Reynolds’ feature film output in recent years has not gone over that well with critics – at least until today.
“Game Night” and “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s new action comedy “Mayday” premieres on Apple TV tomorrow and has drawn decent reviews for essentially a studio comedy.
The title, which also stars Kenneth Branagh, currently sits at 84% (6.2/10) on Rotten Tomatoes from 51 reviews, the highest score a Reynolds film has pulled in since the original “Deadpool” a decade ago (excluding his John Candy doco) and his fifth highest feature after “Mississippi Grind,” “Adventureland,” “Buried” and “Deadpool”.
On Metacritic the number is a decidedly more mixed 59/100 which falls slightly behind “Deadpool 2” and “Free Guy” for him.
Here’s a sampling of reviews:
“No need to declare an emergency here — thanks to two compelling central performances from Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh, engaging aesthetics and well-choreographed fight scenes, Mayday makes for a solid comedy-action combo.” – Sophie Butcher, Empire
“Branagh, it transpires, is a natural action brawler and dazzles in several bone-crunching set pieces.” – Kevin Maher, The Times
“It’s all very silly… But there are laughs, stunts and wacky chemistry between Reynolds and Branagh.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“A rip-roaringly paced, imaginatively shot buddy comedy that feels inspired by just enough rewatches of Top Gun, Black Rain and Red Heat without feeling completely redundant, Mayday plays to everyone’s strengths.” – Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail
“It’s a movie that mostly works, thanks largely to fluid direction from the pair and a truly entertaining performance from Kenneth Branagh.” – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
“For all its retro jokes about Cabbage Patch Kids and Top Gun, Mayday still hasn’t figured out how to make the era funny.” – Monica Castillo, AV Club
“A mirthless mess whose ideas about 1980s international relations are almost as lousy as the incessant one-liners spouted by Reynolds.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
The PG-13 film follows U.S. Air Force pilot Troy ‘Assassin’ Kelly (Reynolds) who, during a covert mission over Soviet Russia, finds his jet colliding with another and forcing him to eject.
Stranded deep in enemy territory, he teams with a former KGB operative (Branagh) working as a carpenter who agrees to help him escape Russia. Maria Bakalova and David Morse co-star. It hits Apple TV tomorrow.
