Nikolai Ustinov may just be the hero we didn’t know we needed.

Kenneth Branagh’s performance as the butt-kicking, America-loving ex-KGB agent is the greatest strength of the Cold War-set action comedy “Mayday,” debuting on Apple TV this week.

The veteran British actor isn’t the biggest name in the latest Skydance Media production to go straight to Apple’s streaming platform; that would be his co-star, Ryan Reynolds. But while the “Deadpool” star plays a version of the character he typically plays in movies — his U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Troy “Assassin” Kelly is confident but charming, as well as funny, often to the point of absurdity — it is Branagh who is most consistently delightful.

“Mayday” takes place in 1987, decades into the frosty relationship of the United States and the Soviet Union. Early on in the movie, Troy — who has no family other than his ill father (David Morse, “The Green Mile”) — is tasked with an off-the-books operation for the CIA: serving as the copilot aboard an SR-71 Blackbird, which he’s told by his superior officer is the fastest and highest-flying aircraft in the world.

“She’s a beauty,” Troy says.

“She’s a beast,” he’s told.

Unfortunately, the beast is felled, leaving Troy stranded behind enemy lines. After passing out, he awakens to the face of Tom Cruise — on a “Top Gun” poster in what proves to be Nikolai’s secluded home.

Having already performed surgery on Troy, as best as he could without the proper equipment, “Nick” plans to nurse him back to strength with bear stew and a beet-based booze and hide him there until the Cold War is over. After all, he says, how much longer can the thing go on?

Nick makes it abundantly clear how much he loves American culture — he has a VHS copy of “Top Gun” that he’s watched a hundred times and a cassette of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” that he plays repeatedly in his car — but that doesn’t matter much to Troy. Despite being very far from both the border with Finland and the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Troy makes a run for it in Nick’s car, getting as far as a nearby pub. His plans to call for help go poorly, and the only reason he makes it out of the bar is that Nick shows up and kicks the stuffing out of several men.

Troy’s new plan: reach the embassy with Nick’s aid and help Nick defect to America. Nick says he would have to bring his daughter, Anna (Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”), who lives in Moscow and with whom he has a rocky relationship, but he isn’t sold. That is, until he is paid a visit by a Soviet official leading the hunt for Troy, the ideologically driven Alexander Volkov (Marcin Dorocinski, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning”), impressing him with a glass of his beet hooch and throwing him off the trail.

Nick knows Volkov will soon learn what transpired at the pub, so he and Troy must leave immediately, and thus the road-trip-comedy foundation of “Mayday” is laid. It serves as a fine canvas on which Reynolds and Branagh can paint, with Troy and Nick alternately fond of and irritated with each other. Their escape from a train full of Soviet soldiers is particularly fun, as is a situation that develops when they attempt to steal a secure radio device from the home of a Russian bigwig.

Reynolds, whose credits also include “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” and “Free Guy,” certainly doesn’t lack for comic timing, and it’s on full display here. Impressively, he’s nearly matched by Branagh, whom we associate more with dramatic acting in movies he’s directed, such as adaptations of William Shakespeare’s plays, including “Henry V” and “Hamlet.”

This dynamic duo isn’t the only reason “Mayday” is as enjoyable as it is. The talented tandem behind the camera, the writing-directing team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, deserves a lot of the credit, as well.

The pair has shown a gift for comedy with their previous directorial efforts, 2015’s “Vacation,” 2018’s “Game Night” and 2023’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” They illustrated a gift for blending action with laughs in the latter, something they continue here, with “Mayday” having a satisfying climactic stretch complete with a monster of a vehicle and a plane running out of fuel.

The storytelling in “Mayday” becomes a tad wobbly from time to time, especially when the two heroes find reasons to distrust one another late in the affair, but, ultimately, the bromance holds, recalling another from cinema history.

“Goose and Maverick were more than copilots,” Nick tells Troy deep into the goings-on, “Top Gun” never far from his thoughts. “They were best friends.”

“Yes,” Troy says, “they were.”

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'MAYDAY'

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for violence and action, some strong language, suggestive references and smoking)

Running time: 1:51

How to watch: On Apple TV Sept. 4

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