An amusing summertime diversion, the buddy action picture Heads of State won’t be heralded for its originality or artistic value, but it’s a fun way to spend a couple of hours amongst people doing their best to entertain. A high concept action thriller where the top elected officials of two of the world’s most powerful countries have to be actual heroes rather than politicians who talk a good game, Heads of State never overthinks things and dives headlong into full on romp territory. It’s not a perfect film, but given the current state of the world, this reality is preferable to the one we currently inhabit.
Veteran UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) and recently elected US President Will Derringer (John Cena) don’t get along. Clarke has been in office for six years, and his polling numbers have never been lower. Derringer, a former big screen megastar, carries a built in sense of public trust after decades in the limelight. Clarke prefers blunt honesty and realism to empty promises and catchy slogans, while Derringer believes it’s his job to give people hope and inspiration, skirting any topics that could be difficult to talk about. Clarke, who actually served his country in the military and worked his way up through the political system recents how Derringer has taken the easy road to a position of power. Will is happily married with a kid, which helps his image, while Sam is a bachelor, which hurts his.
After a disastrous joint press conference where the American president’s mouth running gets them into trouble, Sam and Will begrudgingly agree to fly together on Air Force One to a NATO conference in Italy to prove to the world there’s no beef between them. But en route, they become the target of a vengeful Russian arms dealer (Paddy Considine) who wants to destroy the NATO alliance once and for all. Their flight crashes in the woods of Belarus, but Sam and Will miraculously survive. With the whole world fearing both are dead, the Prime Minister and the President have to keep a low profile and make their way to Italy to expose the truth, provided that they can get along long enough to not get killed.
The script from Harrison Query, Josh Applebaum, and André Nemec (the latter two having previously collaborated on producer Michael Bay’s live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) builds a solid dynamic between the bickering characters. The dialogue is snappy. The story doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny, but makes sense so long as our heroes keep runnin’ and gunnin’ their way across Eastern Europe. It even does a fine job of keeping the viewer guessing about who could be the mole inside the NATO conference. Heads of State is basic action movie fodder that requires a healthy suspension of disbelief for a viewer to buy into it, but it also does more than the bare minimum, meaning everyone on screen and off has plenty to work with.
Heads of State isn’t as brazenly stylish or outlandish as director Ilya Naishuller’s previous films, Nobody and Hardcore Henry, but the action on display remains top notch, in spite of the sort of iffy visual effects that tend to plague direct to streaming blockbusters. Even though a lot of the comedic and dramatic bickering is front loaded into Heads of State and a lot of the bigger action beats come later on, Naishuller has a wild imagination when it come to staging even the simplest of brawls and verbal dustups that make them giddy fun to watch.
Around the time a gleefully unhinged Jack Quaid shows up as a CIA station chief with some obvious mental health issues, the action in Heads of State starts to pick up and things become a lot more impressive. There’s even a clever montage explaining how a character gets from point A to point B so quickly that plays like a cross between Guy Ritchie and Wes Anderson. I can’t explain it better than that, but trust me, it works. The final act of the film is exceptional from an action movie standpoint, so much so that it raises the overall rating of the film by a full point. The choreography, stuntwork, and vehicular mayhem on display throughout the final stages of Heads of State will send viewers out on a high note.
But a movie about ideologically opposed frenemies engaging in derring-do is only as good as its stars, and Heads of State has the perfect talents. Elba and Cena have both appeared in over the top action films, so that part of the job is easy for them. Elba has the less impressive role as the straight-man in the duo, but he’s still able to shine bright as an action hero and use his dry wit and delivery to great effect. He’s a great foil for Cena’s under-qualified POTUS, who is more likely to get their ass kicked in a fight and his only survival training was to play soldiers rather than actually being one. Cena’s aw-shucks dopiness and Elba’s stiff upper lip make for a great duo, and their dynamic is rounded out nicely by Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, as an MI-6 agent who has a fraught romantic history with Sam. It’s also nice to see Jonas’ character be given some substance and just as much to do in the action sequences as her male counterparts. Stephen Root and Carla Gugino are welcome sights as the villain’s right hand man and the Vice President, respectively. And while he could use more screen time, Considine’s villain nicely balances psychopathy and campiness, which is great to see from an actor who’s usually tasked with either playing things with dead seriousness or maximum wackiness.
Throw in a pro-NATO message that feels quaint for a time when the world is about to fall into the abyss, and Heads of State amounts to a likeable movie. The buddy movie playbook is in full effect, but the viewer is in the hands of pros who know what they’re doing and everything is handled with confidence. Those who want something deeper already know to look elsewhere, but anyone who just wants a little under two hours’ worth of escapist entertainment should look over here.
Heads of State is streaming on Prime Video starting Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
