Heads of State

• Directed by Ilya Naishuller
• July 2, 2025 (Prime Video)

When the U.K. Prime Minister and U.S. President become the targets of a conspiracy, they’re forced to rely on one another as they struggle to survive.

My expectations for Heads of State were rather low. Action movies are not what they used to be and given that the talented Idris Elba was paired with the generally one note John Cena I figured this was not gonna be great. My reason for watching something I thought could be bad was I had been binging old movies and wanted something that was newer than 40 years. What I got was something that exceeded expectation by being generally better than most action movies are today even if it had issues.

I expected John Cena’s former action-star-turned-president character Will Derringer to be a bumbling idiot and continually getting dressed down and upstaged by every and any character that comes along. If this were executed like so many he would deserve it because he would be a moronic loser. Derringer is actually kind of a likable guy and very normal with ultimately noble reasons to become president. His shortcomings and issues arise naturally rather than as a chance for the people making the movie to mock him.

You can believe that not only was Derringer a capable enough actor to have moved from action to drama, but he is not just some boob that thought being president would be cool. He has dreams and aspirations to leave a positive mark. Cena shows more ability than I have given him credit for previously.

John Cena shows some talent in a story that has him step beyond being a dumb guy. It’s a part where he could’ve easily been a lunkhead the whole time but he has some depth as a family man and a guy who started from nothing that realizes he needed to make a difference in the world. My only beef there is that the implied style of movies that made him famous went out of style in the early 90s. The fictitious Water Cobra films look like some of the action classics made by Schwarzenegger or Stallone in their heydays.

While I understand there is a beef between UK Prime Minister and veteran of the British Army Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), I think Clarke is too openly hostile for a head of state. You usually do not get that high up without being able to bite your tongue. You can superficially as the movie goes along feel he was envious that Derringer had a loving family and the public adulation that Clarke did not. Clarke does strongly allude to a level of jealousy because he feels the things he needed to earn were handed to Derringer.

Once Priyanka Chopra as missing MI6 agent Noelle Bisset makes it to the story all three characters contribute to the narrative. Each has something different to bring to the table. That’s often missing in action films these days. The best of the classic 80s movies had all the central characters adding a little something even if it was just sidekick humor. Bisset is an old flame of Clarke and that important bit feels real. Both actors imply a shared past in their performance and Elba demonstrates some palpable regret in the part over having not made a connection with his one true love. It also nicely highlights his character’s attitude from the opening.

Priyanka Chopra handles the action and, to director Ilya Naishuller’s credit, he never makes her able to physically beat up somebody far larger than her. Clarke is a little more capable than Derringer but even he can handle himself when needed. The action is stylized and well-choreographed and aims for looking cool over the characters being nearly superhuman.

In a day and age when so much is done with CGI, the CGI used to do the action here isn’t painfully obvious. Even with the shooting down of Air Force One looks real. Just enough is used to tell the story.

At an hour and 54 minutes, you would almost think there could be or should be a lag where the movie itself stops or seriously slows. But the story is always moving and evolving. Something is happening either with the characters or there’s a moment of action. Once the story starts it is always running.

The jokes and the humor pop up naturally without being forced or undermining anything that’s happening. Nobody is too stupid to live and nothing is too stupid to be believable in this fictional world. The weakest is Jack Quaid as CIA officer and Warsaw station agent Marty Comer is becoming the Pedro Pascals of Rob Schneiders. The man is getting cast in everything (or it feels like it) and I am getting a bit sick of seeing him. He is okay but a small bit of Jack Quaid goes a long way.

For what could easily be a straightforward action movie this manages some nice twists and an excellent villain reveal of VP Elizabeth Kirk (Carla Cugino). We are so focused on Russian arms dealer Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine) and his efforts that the truth is a bit of a shock with the added bonus of some preceding misdirection.

My big gripe about this movie is that it seems to reset the relationship between Clarke and Derringer. During the course of the movie each character comes to understand the other. Clarke has helped Derringer to grow into a better version of himself. Derringer helps Clarke focus on what is important and that’s not only a renewed desire to be Prime Minister by to try and pursue something with Bisset.

In the closing moments though and this played a bit throughout Clarke and Derringer share fish and chips at a local pub in Leicester. Derringer saw Clarke doing this with Derringer’s campaign opponent as an endorsement when both ran for president. The point is in the closing moments that the two are having fish and chips at the same place and they start bickering like they did at the beginning of the movie. I don’t need them to be bros and practically on a date but going back to the beginning bickering at the end of the movie was a bit of a mistake, but it doesn’t hurt things. It’s just kind of annoying. 

That bickering in the closing aside, Heads of State is a pleasant surprise. I don’t think it ever would’ve been a hit in theaters, but it’s very good for streaming. Perhaps a little better than a streaming action movie should be.