IonicBreezeMachine

Will Derringer (John Cena) is a major action star who managed to parlay his film stardom to become President of the United States. Following a failed joint MI6-CIA mission to take down notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Gradov (Paddy Constantine), Will flies to England on a diplomatic mission to jointly address the media alongside Prime Minister of Britain Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) who takes a dim view of the showmanship and swagger with which Will carries his office. Following media fallout from the two's barely concealed resentment during a press conference, both their Chiefs of Staff suggest Will host Sam on Air Force One en route to the NATO summit in Trieste, Italy. However, when the plane is overtaken by mercenaries working for Gradov Will and Sam barely escape with their lives and are left stranded in Belarus with the world assuming the two are dead. Stranded in unfriendly territory and with no hope of rescue, Will and Sam must now find their way to the Summit as they dodge Gradov's mercenaries and unravel a conspiracy that will shake the global foundation.

Heads of State is the latest event film for Amazon's streaming service Prime Video produced through Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon acquired the package, described by insiders as Air Force One meets Midnight Run, in October of 2020 as a vehicle for Idris Elba and John Cena with Hardcore Henry and Nobody director Ilya Naishuller coming on board as director. With a proven cast, high concept premise, and a director who specializes in stylized highly kinetic action Heads of State is loaded with promise, even if it only partially delivers on that promise.

In many ways, Heads of State feels very much like a throwback to the days of high concept blockbusters where a high concept premise would be built and sold around an established lead's clout. You think back to the 90s with movies where every other leading lady was either Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock and every other leading man was either Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, or Mel Gibson and it very much feels like one of those movies from about 20 to 30 years ago that would've come about from that environment. In some ways this does work to the movie's benefit as it is nice to see a movie that isn't overly beholden to burdensome franchise IPs that have long since been exhuasted (creatively if not financially sadly) and for the most part Heads of State does feel quite fun and energized even if I attribute that more to the cast and direction than I do the script. Both John Cena and Idris Elba have good chemistry and comic timing with Cena doing well playing a slightly too happy-go-lucky albeit well-meaning musclehead while Elba is equally good playing an overly uptight but level headed counterpart who scores some good deadpan material in contrast to the more exaggerated style Cena plays with. Despite operating in a larger format than he's used to (and reportedly dealing with reshoots), Naishuller still retains the same playfully violent kinetic charm he cultivated so successfully in Hardcore Henry and Nobody not only with some creatively over the top action beats, but also good placement of the film's soundtrack such as a memorable sequence involving Jack Quaid and the Beastie Boys song Sabotage. Priyanka Chopra Jonas is also good as Noel who serves as a solid straightman/foil to the antics of Will and Sam.

I think the biggest issue that keeps Heads of State from really firing on all cylinders is when it tries to play certain elements for pathos including the central conflict which feels very safe and not all that interesting or provocative. Despite dealing with political figures, Heads of State exists in a weird no man's land where it doesn't actually want to be "too political" in a way that reminded me a bit of that James Garner/Jack Lemmon film My Fellow Americans from 1996 that purposefully sidestepped any real-world political connections, but even that film felt like it took a few more risks than Heads of State even if it had to create an alternate universe of the American political landscape. Naishuller does what he can here but any attempts at playing certain elements seriously just feel very featherweight and only serve to drag down the pacing between the impressive setpieces. The movie also lacks a really good villain as the most prominent one we have in Paddy Considine's Gradov is about as generic as you can make for a movie like this and coupled with a twist villain that the audience will most likely call as soon as they're introduced we really don't have a strong compelling antagonist to face off against our lead characters.

Heads of State is an okay "one-time-watch". While I'd probably recommend checking out Naishuller's prior films like Hardcore Henry or Nobody before this one or even Fight or Flight from earlier this year, there's enough good here that you'll have a good enough time while you're watching it even if it's not quite the sum of its parts.

Detective David Hodges (Joseph Bologna) is one of the top cops in the city earning the nickname "El solo lobo". When two Hispanic fisherman wind up missing after going near the lake, the appearance of human remains suggests an aggressive, large, and violent alligator is the cause. Coordinating with his scientist wife Christine (Dee Wallace) the results of the remains seem to indicate a creature that's been exposed to some kind of pituitary chemical. Hodges attempts to get Mayor Anderson (Bill Daily) to postpone the carnival by the lake to celebrate a major real-estate development deal but under pressure by unscrupulous developer Vincent "Vinnie" Brown (Steve Railsback) Hodges is stonewalled at every opportunity leading to him coordinating efforts with rookie Officer Rich Harmon (Woody Brown) and the mayor's idealistic daughter Sheri (Holly Gagnier) to stop the alligator.

Alligator II: The Mutation is a belated "in name only" to the 1980 film Alligator which despite being acknowledged as a Jaws knock-off did earn some modest critical praise and become a minor box office hit attributed to John Sayles slightly self-effacing script and Lewis Teague's tight direction. Aside from producer Brandon Chase, Alligator II has no ties to the initial film in either character or event continuity. While information on how or why this movie came about is very scant (my usual resources of old Cinefantastiques failed me and keep in mind they had info on old Troma movies and a $40,000 Texas Chainsaw Massacre rip-off called Lunch Meat shot guerrilla style in the California hills), Chase was most likely motivated by the boom of home media and video rental stores where producing inexpensive sequels to modest hits was a good business decision as not only did it coast on the good will of the first film, but would also re-invigorate interest in the first film because consumers would think "if they made a sequel, the first one must've been good.". Alligator II: The Mutation isn't nearly as good as its predecessor, but it's not an outright embarrassment either as it does retain some charms of the original one even if they're lacking in the craft, care, and novelty of the first film.

In terms of matching the quirky characterizations of the original film, Alligator II honestly does a decent job in that department. Featuring character-actor Joseph Bologna (whom I know best for his lead in underrated disaster spoof The Big Bus and voicing Dan Turpin in Superman The Animated Series) as the quirky lone wolf detective Hodges and E. T. And The Howling star Dee Wallace as his supportive but intelligent scientist wife it's a pretty clear attempt at recapturing the dynamic between Robert Forster and Robin Riker (it does almost make me wonder if these were supposed to be the same characters but rewritten to be more standalone) and there are some good moments between them even if writer Curt Allen feels like he is trying to copy John Sayles' style of writing without having that same level of polish. As with the prior film, Alligator II features a similar dynamic between a corrupt mayor and industrial magnate (who also builds real-estate on the same places he pollutes so a very short sighted industrial magnate.....which now that I think about maybe sadly accurate) and while they're not carbon copies of the characters from the first film, Steve Railsback gives a not particularly good performance that is scenery chewing ridiculousness that may not be great acting, but it's not boring. The special effects on the titular Alligator are unfortunately a step down as the gator is often shown in scenes for a great length of time that showcase how slow and cumbersome it is and the filmmakers actually supplement the film by using footage from the first Alligator because it looks so much better. To the film's credit they do have some ideas like having the Alligator develop mutations like increased resilience to firearms and explosives, but the budget really doesn't allow for as many standout moments like when the gator burst through the street in the first film.

If Alligator was a B-movie featuring A-level effort, Alligator II: The Mutation is a C-Movie feature B+-level effort. It's pretty clear the team was given a directive by Brandon Chase to just remake the first film with a few minor differences and despite not having the proper resources in place that do a decent job of capturing the quirky tone and socioeconomic satire of the original even if it does feel like someone wearing a role they're only partially comfortable with because they're essentially tracing someone's work while changing only a few details. There's honestly some decent things to appreciate so long as you can forgive the technical shortcomings and other shortcuts that unfortunately come with territory.

In a Missouri City, homicide Detective David Madison (Robert Forster) is investigating several cases of dismembered limbs showing up in spillways and water treatment centers suggesting violent deaths in and around the sewer system. Still carrying the stigma of losing his partner when he was a St. Louis cop, Madison pairs with hot shot young officer Jim Kelly (Perry Lang) and the two enter the sewers to investigate only to find an abnormally large alligator is the culprit and claims Officer Kelly's life. As Madison barely escapes with his life, his stories are dismissed by his superiors as job related stress until an overly ambitious reporter tries to get his next scoop and photographs the monster before being ripped to shreds by it. Now with the support of the Department to find and stop the alligator, Madison pairs with herpetologist Dr. Marisa Kendall (Robin Riker) with the two discovering chemicals in samples of dog corpses the alligator has been feeding on that may explain the alligator's size and ability to survive in the sewers and points to the local Slade Pharmaceuticals as responsible for unleashing this creature on the public.

Alligator is a 1980 horror film from B-movie producer Brandon Chase. Initially announced in 1976, Chase was inspired to make the film after the success of his film The Giant Spider Invasion and wanted to produce a film based on the urban legend of alligators in the sewers. Lewis Teague was hired to direct and upon his suggestion John Sayles with whom he'd worked on Lady in Red was hired to rewrite the screenplay which both Sayles and Teague described as terrible and nonsensical. Faced with many special effects issues that had befallen similar Jaws-like films (including Jaws) such as a decaying gator animatronic provided by Chase that had to be rebuilt only to require two ex-NFL players to manipulate the frame to promotional issues as Chase had scored a lucrative TV deal for the film and no longer cared how it did in theaters leading to Teague arranging promotions himself including screening the film for Vincent Canby whose positive review helped spread word of mouth which translated to critical success with many appreciating the film's humor and earning $6.5 million in box office against a $1.6 million budget. Alligator's a fun little exploitation film that knows exactly what kind of movie it is and has fun with it making it spiritually similar to Sayle's other horror writings like Piranha and The Howling.

From where the movie starts with the titular gator being flushed as a baby 12 years prior to cutting to the modern day, the movie does a solid job of setting up the outlandish scenario by creating some fun and over-the-top characterizations. Robert Forster is very good as Detective Madison playing the character with a laid back "coasting to the end" style delivery that he sheds more of as things get serious while still retaining his laconic wit and delivery. In many ways it's not unlike how Larry Cohen would approach this kind of genre fare placing more outlandish horror/sci-fi elements in the context of a police procedural or detective story and it works quite well. Robin Riker is well paired with Forster as Marisa Kendall and the two have charming chemistry and work well with each other. Sayles includes some solid satire of corporate polluters with the Alligator working as a metaphor for the effects of irresponsible waste disposal which is compounded by the fact that once the alligator is forced above ground it works its way through the socioeconomic ladder starting out in the poorer sections of the unnamed city before climaxing at the mansion of the company CEO in a good karmic payoff. Admittedly some of the effects work is a little shaky as they often need to film using workarounds of the giant gator model or even use a real 20 foot gator on a set, but it works well enough even if it's lacking in the finer points of polish.

In terms of genre films John Sayles wrote during this early part of his career, Alligator fits somewhere above the earlier Piranha while not quite reaching the level of The Howling. It's a well-made, well-acted, and entertaining film that gets a good amount of mileage out of its "Jaws from the sewers" premise and delivers on what it promises with tongue planted firmly in cheek.