TBDAmazon MGM Studios definitely has a good one right here, whether you’re watching at home on your TV or using another type of screen to watch content. What am I talking about? It’s Heads of State, the new film directed by Ilya Naishuller and starring John Cena, Idris Elba, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
Heads of State is an action comedy where Cena plays Will Derringer, an action movie star turned politician who’s the new President of the United States. With Elba playing Sam Clarke, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a man who doesn’t look to fondly at Derringer as he’s been Prime Minister for about six years and think Derringer a buffoon. However, things go beyond just two world leaders in the West not liking each other. Threatening the special relationship between the US and UK is when Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine), a deadly Russian arms dealer who’s evaded capture by the CIA and MI6, decides to attack Air Force One with both leaders on board. This odd couple now has to escape the plane and figure out how to stay alive to help stop his plans to destroy the NATO alliance and protect the world.
The comedic chemistry between Elba and Cena is gold. These two actors previously worked together on The Suicide Squad, so there’s a level of familiarity between them that makes each character believable in how they work off each other. Cena is a perfect puppy dog funny; here, he’s a threat in action scenes, but not a destructive force of nature. His character is an actor, so while he can look tough, he struggles with actually doing the real thing. Elba, in this role, has moments where he reminds you of his character in Luther, an intelligent, always capable, and cool British man, who, of course, you think leads a nation and doesn’t have a sense of humor. The clashes on screen are pure comedy and are reminiscent of every action buddy comedy we’ve seen since the late 1980s. Here, using these standard tropes works and makes you feel right at home in this movie. It is a turn your brain off type of movie for the most part.
Chopra Jonas’ character, Noel Bisset, a MI6 agent, actually starts the film, and she’s pretty much the heroic superspy you’d see team up with James Bond or Ethan Hunt while also being their complete peer in skill and magical super spy survival ability. She returns to the story just when the two need help and protection the most, as the film never portrays these two leaders as competent in fighting terrorist soldiers. She is tough and has a history with Sam’s character; the film can incorporate some romance while keeping the action and plot moving.
The group is hunted mainly by two assassins Olga (Katrina Durden) and Sasha (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) who are two silent terminators who are damn near unstoppable until the late into the last act. They both give great performances through their faces; these two just look so determined and deadly every time they are shown. Seeing Jack Quaid pop up in this in a little role as CIA station agent Marty Comer is one of the few times an actor completely steals the show from our two stars when all three are together on screen. He has one of the best action setpieces in the whole thing.
It was nice to see familiar faces like Stephen Root and Carla Gugino in this, along with Sarah Niles, who’s also currently in F1 within the same month. The screenplay by Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, and Harrison Query is good, but I think it’s the direction of Naillhuller that pushes it to the next level. This movie is big and works well within the genre, doing some great things that I wouldn’t expect. This film employs montages at certain points that evoke Wes Anderson in some ways, combined with Frank Miller‘s and Geoff Darrow‘s Hard Boiled. It’s something that you have to see, as it’s cute, funny, and has very good action in very short scenes. I was fortunate enough to see this film on the big screen at a movie theater, and I wish others could have had the same experience.
Heads of State is a perfect summer movie and a film that many should enjoy, making it worth taking the time to watch on Prime Video over the holiday weekend.
TBD