In 1987, during the final years of the Soviet Union, a Russian man named Nikolaï (played by Kenneth Branagh) secretly owns a VHS tape of the American action film Top Gun. At that time, such Western media was strictly forbidden in the USSR. This sets the stage for Mayday, a new film released on Apple TV on September 4. The story begins with an American naval pilot involved in a top-secret mission crashing near Nikolaï’s home. Nikolaï is thrilled to meet the pilot, named Troy (played by Ryan Reynolds), as it gives him a rare chance to interact with a real American. However, Troy is initially wary of Nikolaï, according to the Los Angeles Times. Despite Troy’s suspicion, Nikolaï, who insists on being called “Nick,” decides to help the pilot and tries to hide him from the Red Army. When Nikolaï offers to wait “until the end of the Cold War” with Troy, the pilot decides to take off. But the border with Finland is thousands of kilometers away, and the American embassy in Moscow is barely closer. The challenge is to find a way to contact the embassy without being monitored. Fortunately, Troy soon realizes that Nikolaï has a wealth of resources. He is revealed to be a former KGB agent whose current dream is to find McDonald’s and travel across America in a motorhome, according to the Californian Daily. The journey to Moscow is filled with tension and memorable chases as the two unlikely allies navigate the dangers of the Soviet regime. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, Mayday is part of a series of new releases on Apple TV. These include Silo, which is reinventing itself as a political thriller for its third season, and Letters from My Grandmother, a film that explores what it means to be Chinese. Other releases include The Whisper Man, an oppressive thriller starring Robert De Niro and Adam Scott, and Dark Matter season 2.