Heads of State Review

An attack on Air Force One forces the UK Prime Minister (Idris Elba) and US President/Hollywood action hero (John Cena) to make their own way to a NATO summit in Italy. Along the way the two heads of state – who don’t get along – will have to battle hostile locals and an army of killers if they’re going to make it to the summit, save NATO, and figure out who’s trying to kill them.

Heads of State is exactly what you expect it to be; a fun-filled and ridiculous action/comedy. One that hilariously crashes through the bounds of reality – not only in terms of action, but by suggesting that two of the most ‘taken care of’ people in the world would be capable of surviving such an escapade. Enter Idris Elba and John Cena as the titular heads of state. In this day and age it’s not actually that unbelievable that these two characters could reach such high office. But once the two stars get together believability becomes a bit of a moot point. Even more so by the time the two of them fall out of a plane. Priyanka Chopra Jonas nicely rounds out this trio, as a British agent who inadvertently becomes responsible for wrangling the two world leaders while investigating the people behind this threat.

Having fallen out of said plane, the action comes thick and fast for the not so dynamic duo – the two actors drawing on the relationship they formed on The Suicide Squad – as they take a rather unorthodox route to the NATO summit. A hilarious road trip filled to the brim with delightfully over the top lunacy, along with a few gunfights and explosions to match. Not to mention two of Hollywood’s luckiest/unluckiest assassins (Aleksandr Kusnetzov & Katrina Durden). We’re talking full-blown Fast & Furious levels of lunacy, only the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously – for the most part – so it gets away with it. Two scenes to watch out for involve a calamitous encounter with some Belarussian locals, and a firefight in a CIA safe house, in which Jack Quaid’s over keen station agent/presidential fanboy makes a CCTV monitor look pretty cool.

Inevitably, there are times when Heads of State moves away from the two heads of state and their super spy best friend, and it’s in these moments that it almost forgets that it’s a comedy. The cheese levels go through the roof – along with the predictability – as the movie begins to take itself a little too seriously. Paddy Considine does at least get a few amusing moments, even if he’s not given the opportunity to do anything new as the villain. While the collapse of NATO is overplayed somewhat, along with the influence the UK & US supposedly have over the organisation. All of which results in some overly saccharine bro-down antics to patch things up. Thankfully however, these moments pass by quite quickly, allowing the movie to get back to the business of blowing things up and making us laugh.