After the success Ilya Naishuller had with Nobody (2021), it would be an understatement to say that I was excited to see where his career would take him next. With the announcement of a Nobody sequel, I had initially assumed that he would be focusing on this. Alas, the director’s seat for that film has been filled by action ace Timo Tjahjanto, with Naishuller instead opting to helm action comedy Heads of State.
Heads of State is a slightly diluted Naishuller vehicle in comparison to Nobody, with it being a PG-13 action movie. Even so, Naishuller hasn’t lost his touch, with Heads of State being a gleefully silly and entertaining actioner that never loses the point of a film like this. Fun.
The opening of the film does seem to be overly serious, with an calamitous undercover operation to capture Considine’s Gradov leading to an entire MI6 team being left for dead. However, events quickly lighten up with the introduction of both Cena and Elba, with the film juxtaposing their differences, with it being inherently clear that they are going to clash. And clash they do, with hilarious results.
Idris Elba is British Prime Minister Sam Clarke who has a somewhat fraught relationship with American President Will Derringer (John Cena). Derringer is caught up on a previous incident that involved Fish & Chip. Clarke, a former soldier in the British army, finds Derringer’s approach to politics laughable, bringing up Derringer’s previous occupation as a Hollywood actor on numerous occasions.
The both of them end up having a heated argument in front of the press, which doesn’t exactly make either of them look good to the public. In order to create the impression of a united front, their political aides advise them to both travel together to the upcoming NATO Summit in Trieste. What seems like a great idea ends in disaster when international arms dealer Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine) sends a team of terrorists to bring down Air Force One.
The terrorists succeed, but not before both Derringer and Clarke are able to escape the burning plane. Landing in Belarus, the two of them have to put their differences aside and make their way to safety. During their adventure they begin to discover that people in their own government may have been working with Gradov to eliminate them.
Highbrow isn’t exactly a term you would levy at Heads of State. Its approach to politics is simplistic and I very much doubt any of our world leaders would be as heroic or idealistic as Cena or Elba’s characters. The level of government corruption is much easier to believe, but villains would never be as broadly drawn in the real world as they are here.
Saying that, I seriously doubt anyone sitting down to Heads of State were expecting a real world depiction of geo-politics. Josh Applebaum, André Nemec and Harrison Query’s script is more interested in the comedic banter and over the top situations they put their heroes in than trying to make some grand political statement. There is the odd jibe here and there at the expense of both the U.S. and U.K, but nothing that would get in the way of your enjoyment.
Obviously the filmmakers saw how well Cena and Elba worked together in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021) and realized there should be more of that. Unlike The Suicide Squad which had more of a team dynamic, the majority of Heads of State’s runtime has the focus on the two of them.
As he has proven before, Cena excels at playing the loveable idiot, with his President Derringer having a serious lack of self awareness. Derringer is constantly putting his foot in it, with his role clearly alluding to the exploits of several world leaders. I will let you decide who. There is also a touch of Schwarzenegger here, with Derringer’s previous job being a Hollywood action hero. This makes way for much of the film’s humor, with Derringer realizing that all his make believe gunplay and fighting doesn’t work as well in the real world.
Elba is more of the straightman, with most of the humor around his Prime Minister Clarke being his clear exasperation at Cena’s ill advised arrogance. Of course, like any good buddy movie, both our heroes begin to grow closer through their adventures with the two of them proving to be quite a formidable force when facing off against Paddy Considine’s villain.
It doesn’t hurt that the two of them are backed up by Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ MI6 agent Noelle, who gets her own fair share of the action, proving to be more of a bad ass than either of our two leads. A previous romantic relationship between her and Elba’s Clarke also gives the film some more dramatic stakes that counterbalance the more ridiculous humor and over the top action. The only drawback from this is that there seems to be a lack of chemistry between her and Elba, but this is a minor niggle.
Paddy Considine’s Gradov is mostly a forgettable villain which is a shame as Considine is capable of so much more. He still fares better here than he did in last month’s Deep Cover (2025), but like that film, Heads of State doesn’t use him to the best of its advantage. The same is true of Carla Gugino, who if you can’t figure out her character’s motivations just means that you haven’t watched enough action movies.Â
As forgettable as they are, there is a cheer-worthy extended cameo from Jack Quaid who features in one of the film’s best action scenes. Like he did in this year’s Novacaine (2025), Quaid brings the laughs as well as getting to unleash some violent mayhem. Well as violent as a PG-13 rating will allow.
Speaking of PG-13, Naishuller does stretch the rating as much as possible. There is no shortage of violent fight scenes and shootouts (albeit somewhat bloodless), with the action gleefully stretching believability as the film progresses, leading to an over the top car chase featuring the President’s limo and a firetruck that gives the middle finger to the laws of physics. Just when you think that’s it, Naishuller then treats us to an extended shootout during the NATO summit during the film’s finale.
Heads of State may not be as memorable as Naishuller’s Nobody, but it’s still an extremely enjoyable blockbuster. It’s so enjoyable in fact that it made me question how Amazon decides what productions deserve a cinema release. With high production values, serious star power and awesome action scenes, this is much more deserving of a theatrical release than many other so called blockbusters that are afforded theatrical distribution.
Hopefully it will do reasonable business as it would be great to see Cena and Elba share the screen again, either in a sequel or even a different starring vehicle. The ending of the film certainly opens up several opportunities they could take the potential series, either with Elba and Cena or focusing on some of the side characters. I for one would be open for any further adventures in this world.
Heads of State is currently available on Amazon Prime.
Plot: 3.5/5
Acting: 4/5
Action: 4/5
Overall: 3.8/5
