Mayday Reviews: Apple TV Has A Proper Blockbuster On Its Hands

The most common criticism in the Mayday reviews is that it should not be on Apple TV at all.

Not because it is bad. Because critics keep saying it belongs on a very large screen, in a dark room, with an overpriced drink in the cupholder. That is a strange sort of compliment for a streaming exclusive, and it is the single most useful thing to know about this film before Friday.

Mayday lands on Apple TV on Friday 4 September, kicking off Apple’s autumn film slate. Here is what the reviews are saying, and why this one matters more than the usual streaming drop.

What It Actually Is

Part buddy comedy, part spy thriller, starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh. That casting alone is doing something interesting. Reynolds you can predict from the poster. Branagh, playing off him, is the variable that makes the whole thing worth a look.

Behind the camera are John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and this is where the pedigree gets genuinely encouraging. They made Game Night, which is one of the sharpest studio comedies of the last decade. They made Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which had every reason to be a disaster and instead turned out to be enormous fun. They co-wrote Horrible Bosses. These two know exactly how to keep a comedy moving while an action plot happens around it, which is a much harder trick than it looks.

What The Reviews Say

Overwhelmingly positive, and the praise clusters around the same three things every time: the action set pieces, the humour, and the chemistry between the two leads.

JoBlo goes furthest, rating it as the strongest film of the year not getting a cinema run and one of the better streaming-only releases full stop. Empire’s take is more measured but lands in the same place, noting that a buddy comedy action film with Reynolds in it comes with a very specific set of expectations attached, and that Mayday meets all of them and then adds a bit on top. The Hollywood Reporter calls it an entertaining popcorn film carried by the mismatched-pair dynamic, and comes away wanting the sequel the film hints at.

That last detail is worth underlining. A critic finishing a streaming film and actively hoping for another one is not a small thing.

The Cinema Question

Back to that opening point, because it is the most revealing thread running through the coverage.

Multiple reviewers make the same observation: this feels like a summer blockbuster that took a wrong turn. Well-staged action, broad appeal, a big-name lead doing the thing audiences pay to see him do. Fifteen years ago this is a July release with a poster on the side of every bus in the country. Instead it arrives quietly on a streaming service on a Friday.

Whether that is a tragedy or a masterstroke depends on where you sit. Apple has spent an eye-watering amount of money on theatrical releases with mixed results, and a crowd-pleaser that goes straight to subscribers is a very different proposition from one that needs to open at number one to justify itself. If Mayday is as fun as critics reckon, it is the kind of film that gets watched, recommended, and rewatched on a Sunday afternoon for years. That has value too, just not the sort you can put in a box office chart.

Where It Fits In Apple’s Autumn

Mayday is the opening act. Apple has several high-profile original films queued up behind it, and the service has been busy on the back catalogue front as well, having just added fifteen classic films for subscribers.

That combination matters. Apple TV built its reputation on television, and it is a strong reputation, with Ted Lasso still running alongside sci-fi hits like Silo and Dark Matter. Films have been the weaker column by comparison: expensive, prestigious, occasionally brilliant, but rarely the thing that makes someone keep paying every month.

A well-reviewed Reynolds action comedy is a different kind of asset. It is the film you put on when nobody can agree what to watch. Every streaming service needs a few of those, and Apple has been noticeably short.

Worth Your Friday Night?

On the evidence, yes. The critical consensus is strong, the creative team have a track record of making exactly this sort of film work, and it is included in a subscription you are probably already paying for.

Go in expecting a very good popcorn film rather than something that reinvents the genre and you will have a fine time. Which, given the number of streaming exclusives that fail to clear even that bar, counts as a result.

Are You Watching?

Is Mayday your Friday night sorted, or has the Reynolds formula worn thin for you by now? And the bigger question: should Apple be putting films like this in cinemas first, or is straight to streaming exactly where a crowd-pleaser like this belongs? Let us know in the comments.

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Jamie Spencer

Jamie has been blogging about tech, making money online and entrepreneurship for the past 12 years. He is the proud owner of hugely successful website makeawebsitehub.com and has helped over 20k people start their own blogs.