A campy fun political action movie.
John Cena and Idris Elba reunite from “The Suicide Squad” as two world leaders who don’t like each other, but find themselves collaborating in an action movie. And that action movie is “Heads of State,” which just entered Amazon Prime Video’s entry, and is obviously the better Cena Movie on the streaming site than “Ricky Stanicky” or “Jackpot” combined. In fact, it makes up for my miserable experiences with them (mostly “Jackpot”).
Cena is the action star-turned-POTUS Will Derringer (“We did it at the box office, and now, we will do it at the Oval Office.”), while Elba is the SAS commando-turned-Prime Minister Sam Clarke, who suggests that the actor “doesn’t know the difference between a press meeting and a press junket.” So think of Derringer being the president in the analogy of Arnold Schwarzenegger being the 38th Governor of California and Ben Affleck being offered a job in the white house for his film “Argo.” Or maybe think of Ben Stiller’s fake movie trailers in “Tropic Thunder.” If that movie had a sequel (which I’m pretty sure would be in a parallel universe), then “Heads of State” would be a fake trailer.
I think their conflicts has something to do with fish and chips, but in order for them to have a good image, the President must invite the Prime Minister for a ride on Air Force One. But it becomes a real life action movie for them (think about if “Air Force One” was made in the 2020s), when they survive an attack in the air. These two have to assume that every safe house is compromised, especially when a global conspiracy is emerging. And at this point their only surviving assistant is the presumed dead MI6 agent (Priyanka Chopra-Jonas), who served as with Clarke. When they reunite, they also have their conflicts about his choices.
The bantering between these two world leaders is a lot more entertaining than how Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans handled their mismatched characters in “Red One.” Cena and Elba handle their characters with the right kind of attitude, and I guess that’s what drew me into “Heads of State.” We’re not really supposed to care about the wall-to-wall action or CGI effects, but rather their conflicts and commentary, especially since Cena plays a movie star entering the political world.
For instance, among the supporting cast, Carla Gugino plays the VP who gets sworn in office, and, of course, she among the bad guys. Even Derringer acknowledges that it’s always the Vice President. At least she handles her dialogue and tone better than Tim Blake Nelson in “Angel Has Fallen.” We also get Jack Quaid as Derringer movie fan, Paddy Considine as a criminal mastermind, and Stephen Root as a computer expert associated with the villains, and Sarah Niles and Richard Coyle as the Derringer and Clarke’s political advisers.
I wasn’t really expecting to like “Heads of State” based on the typical action movies streaming on Amazon, AppleTV+ or Netflix. But apparently, I did, and I like how director Illya Naishuller chooses the B-movie approach, especially when he stepped up from a dizzying movie like “Hardcore Henry” to an original action movie like “Nobody.” This is not a perfect action movie, but it is a fun movie thanks to Cena and Elba’s collaboration. Take this “Red One.”
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
