Fact-checking the fun new military film ‘Mayday’
About 15 minutes into “Mayday” I had to be reminded that this was not the film to watch if I wanted military accuracy. It is, however, perfect for nostalgia and laughs.
Set in 1987, “Mayday” follows a U.S. Navy fighter pilot—callsign “Assassin”—who is shot down behind enemy lines where he is saved by a man who claims he wants to defect to America.
Assassin is played by Ryan Reynolds, who has portrayed a fighter pilot in another goofy movie you may remember called “Green Lantern.” Though, of course, that one didn’t intend to be silly.
(Apologies to the makers of “Green Lantern.” I know it’s a miracle even getting a film made and, look, you helped Reynolds meet his future wife and together they’ve had four children, so the butterfly effect you’ve had on mankind is immeasurable ALSO even Ryan Reynolds teases himself in “Deadpool 2” okay?).
Reynolds brings his signature whimsy to the role and he has some great jokes in there, but it’s Kenneth Branagh’s Nikolai who really slays in this film.
You may recognize Branagh from “Tenet,” “Dunkirk,” “Oppenheimer,” or even “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”… or you may not recognize him at all because in “Mayday” he has the beautiful manly beard one would expect from a Russian living in the great white north.
The two make a great buddy comedy duo as they flee the KGB.
“Mayday” is written and directed by the effing fantastic comedy-writing duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who have also killed it co-writing “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Game Night,” and “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” I lol’d pretty much constantly.
I was also prepared to be indignant when I felt some Russian sympathy themes building, but the writers surprised me by distinguishing the governments of both the U.S. and the USSR from their peoples in a meaningful way.
With all that in mind, let’s play with some spoiler-free fact-checks about “Mayday”:
1. The SR-71 Blackbird
The SR-71 Blackbird remains the fastest manned aircraft in the world. With a range of 3,000 miles, a max speed of 2,200 mph (Mach 3.2+), and ceiling of 85,000 feet, she could map 100,000 square miles per hour, making her the most successful strategic reconnaissance aircraft in history.
The advancement of unmanned aerial vehicles, improvements in satellite surveillance, increased capabilities of 4th and 5th generation fighter jets, and longer-range surface-to-air missiles spelled out the retirement of the Blackbird and her variants, but none were ever lost to enemy action.
Now… did Navy pilots ever fly the Blackbird? I guess that’s a question for the CIA.
2. Soviet-Era Encrypted Phones
The Altai phone was among the first mobile communication system in the world. Developed by the Soviets and working in Moscow by 1963, they were called “mobile” because they were installed mainly on vehicles of managers and major specialists of law enforcement agencies or employees of special services.
By 1970, the Altai system was operating in more than 30 cities in the USSR and in the 1990s, 2G cellular communications were developed. An Altai phone could indeed call another Altai or a regular landline phone, including, presumably, the American Embassy in Moscow.
Which leads us to….
3. The Cold War-Era American Embassy
Yep, there was a U.S. Embassy in Moscow during the Cold War. “Mayday” takes place near the end of the Cold War—one year after another 2026 film, “The Brink of War,” which portrayed U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s arms reduction summit in Iceland.
The Cold War would officially end in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but it would really lose its steam in 1989. The States and the Soviets were trying, is what I’m saying.
Nonetheless, in 1987, Soviet espionage in the U.S. embassy in Moscow threatened potential peace discussions. From U.S. Marine guards falling prey to Soviet espionage agents to allegations concerning Soviet spy equipment riddling new embassy construction locations, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz once declared, “They invaded our sovereign territory and we’re damned upset about it.”
So making it to the gates of the embassy wasn’t a guarantee of safety for either Assassin or his ex-KGB counterpart.
And as for that ending? Look, I’m not a Top Gun pilot, but, still, you be the judge.
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