Apple TV yesterday unveiled the trailer for its upcoming action-comedy ‘Mayday’, starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh, ahead of the film’s global premiere on Apple TV on September 4.

Directed, written and produced by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the Apple Original Films ‘Mayday’ follows hotshot US Navy pilot Lieutenant Troy ‘Assassin’ Kelly (Reynolds), whose top-secret mission into Russian territory during the Cold War goes disastrously wrong, leaving him stranded behind enemy lines.

His only hope of survival comes from an unlikely alliance with Nikolai Ustinov (Branagh), a gruff former KGB agent with an admiration for American culture.

According to an Apple TV press statement yesterday, Daley and Goldstein described the film as a tribute to classic 1980s buddy movies.

“The buddy films of the 1980s were a bizarre and enticing blend of humour, danger and genuine heart. ‘Mayday’ is our ode to this genre, with the unlikely pairing of Ryan Reynolds and Sir Kenneth Branagh in a Cold War adventure that explores what it means to be patriotic, but ultimately what it means to be human,” they said in a statement.

The film also stars Marcin Dorociński, Maria Bakalova and David Morse. It is an Apple Original Film from Skydance Media, produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger for Skydance, alongside Ashley Fox and Johnny Pariseau for Maximum Effort, with Daley and Goldstein also serving as producers. Reynolds, George Dewey and John G. Scotti are executive producers.

Apple said the genre-bending film blends action, comedy and espionage, turning the conventional spy thriller on its head through the unlikely partnership between two men from opposite sides of the Cold War.

The newly released trailer offers the first extended look at the pair’s high-stakes adventure and their unexpected bond.