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.
