Bullet Points: Mayday (2005)

Disaster movies are a popular genre of action movies. I am not quite sure why people want to see what can go wrong but I suppose the movies usually have happy endings so there is something about the human spirit or whatever. I don’t know if I buy that. Thousands of people travel by air everyday, and while it is relatively safe, do they want to think about the life threatening danger that is possible? I guess they do because we consistently get disaster movies like 2005’s Mayday. An airplane disaster movie less than 5 years after September 11? Seems like enough time, but is it worth your time?

• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Disaster movies, especially made for television disaster movies, need to introduce the characters right out of the gate, and Mayday is no exception. We need to meet the passengers and crew of Pacific Global flight 52 from San Francisco to Tokyo on the state of the art supersonic jet. John Berry (Aidan Quinn) is a single father who is having a spat with his son. Sharon Crandall (Kelly Hu, Cradle 2 the Grave) is a flight attendant and passenger Linda Farley (Tamara Hope) is also having family problems. There are several other people introduced but, spoiler alert, they either don’t have anything to do or don’t make it. The family problems are not really relevant either except to relate to the audience who might also have no good kids.

• The Day The Earth Stood Still – Meanwhile, we are also introduced to a U.S. Navy missile testing led by Commander James Sloan (Dean Cain, Christmas Rush) with Pentagon observer Admiral Randolf Hennings (Charles S. Dutton, A Low Down Dirty Shame) there to add a little gravitas. I bet you can guess where the missile testing and commercial airline flight are headed. Mayday attempts to explain how the U.S. Navy hits the plane (with a missile sans warhead) because the supersonic jet flies at 65,000 feet, way higher than normal commercial flights and had to deviate due to weather.
• Dog Day Afternoon – When the missile hits the jet business really picks up in Mayday and we have ourselves an action movie. Most of the passengers are left unconscious due to the low oxygen at the high altitude. A great way to eliminate the need for lots of characters without having hundreds of deaths in your movie. Not that everyone survives as we lose the entire flight crew. The best deaths have to be the two daughters of a man and his wife, a man that is way too attached to his dogs. The daughters want to switch seats with their mom and dad so they can be closer to the movie screen. The new seats are right where a gaping hole ends up in the fuselage. Stick to your assigned seats, people.

• A Hard Day’s Night – Unsurprisingly, the conscious passengers are John, Sharon and Linda, the surprising part is the two of them were saved because they were in the shitter (I think lavatory is the proper aircraft terminology). The dog guy is there but he doesn’t do anything but sit next to his unconscious wife and regret switching seats with his daughters. There are also some conscious passengers in the conference room but they have absolutely nothing to do with anything. Did I mention that John is a weekend pilot? Single engine propeller planes can’t be too different from a state of the art jet, can they?
• Another Day in Paradise – Mayday has time to introduce more characters, as we meet the bigwigs at Pacific Global trying to help John and the rest of the passengers. Or are they? Wayne Johnson (Sasha Roiz, The Day After Tomorrow) is the top dog and originally wants to help until the slimy fingers of insurance woman Anne Metz (Gail O’Grady) gets a hold of him. She doesn’t want the plane to make it back because it will be less of a payout. Also on her side but without knowing it is Commander Sloan, who doesn’t want the Navy, and more specifically him, to look bad for hitting a commercial airliner. Sloan wants to finish the job and shoot the plane down so in ends up in one of the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean. Roc is there to put the kibosh on that murderous plan.

Mayday has an extended dramatic portion dealing with John trying to fly an unfamiliar plane and both Commander Sloan and Wayne Johnson working against him. Luckily for action fans, the periods before and after, the missile strike and plane landing, are done well enough to be worth it. And it is not that the dramatic elements are bad, there just isn’t that much action. The characters are surprisingly realistic and well written (if not technically accurate) even in far-fetched and CGI situations which made Mayday worth my time. However, I won’t be watching before my next flight, and I won’t be asking to change seats. I will be asking for some Mayday Bonus Bullet Points.

• October Day – Mayday premiered as the CBS Sunday Movie on October 2, 2005.
• Based On – Mayday is based on the 1979 Thomas Block novel Mayday. It was later updated in 1998 by Block and Nelson DeMille.
• Airplane! – If you are looking for a comedic take on a passenger trying to land a commercial jet, the 1980 comedy is a good choice.
• May Daze – There are several other movies and TV series with the name Mayday so be careful when selecting your next movie.