- Director: Ilya Naishuller
- Screenplay: Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Harrison Query
- Cast: Idris Elba, John Cena, Priyanka Chopra, Jack Quaid, Paddy Considine, Stephen Root, Carla Gugino
- Cinematography: Ben Davis
- Editing: Tom Harrison-Read
- Score: Steven Price
- Genre: Action comedy
- Runtime: 113 minutes
I recently watched Idris Elba play the United States president in the tense thriller ‘A House of Dynamite‘, chronicling the hypothetical launch of a nuclear missile from an enemy nation. ‘Heads of State‘, however, is a full one-eighty in terms of tone. Light and breezy, it’s an acceptable antidote to a bleak and depressing world.
In this, Elba slips back into his native accent as Sam Clarke, the British prime minister while recently retired wrestler-turned-actor John Cena takes up the mantle of American president, as Will Derringer. Clarke’s no-nonsense gruffness conflicts with Derringer’s lack of formality – he’s an action movie star with no political experience propelled to public office by sheer popularity alone (because a situation like that has never happened before, right?). When Air Force One gets bombarded by missiles, the pair parachute to safety and land on Belarusian soil. They reluctantly join forces in order to get to their scheduled destination, a NATO summit in Trieste.
As for the plot: it’s of a paint-by-numbers quality; a Russian arms dealer baddie, a mole, fake-out deaths, explosions – nothing too taxing. The chalk and cheese duo verbally spar with each other when they’re not punching bad guys, ribbing one another on their transatlantic differences. The special relationship between the respective leaders of the Brits and the Yanks is the bromance you didn’t know you needed. Throw in Priyanka Chopra as an MI6 agent and Jack Quaid as a CIA officer and you’ve got an undemanding watch, suffused with corniness.
My Rating: 6 / 10
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