'Heads of State' review: John Cena and Idris Elba team up for more action, less politics

“Heads of State” is not the Cheech & Chong reunion movie you’ve been waiting for, but a comic thriller co-starring John Cena and Idris Elba, premiering Wednesday connected Prime Video. Previously joined successful taste past by the DC ace antihero flick “The Suicide Squad,” the actors person remade their rivalrous characters determination into an unusual mates of nationalist leaders here, dealing with conspiratorial skulduggery, bullets, bombs and the like.

Call maine dim, but I wasn’t adjacent fractional alert that Cena, whose muscles person muscles, maintains a long, palmy vocation successful nonrecreational wrestling — which is, of course, acting — alongside his much accepted amusement concern pursuits; he’s ever crippled to mock himself and not acrophobic to look dumb, which yet makes him look smart, oregon to look for each intents and purposes bare astatine the 2024 Oscars, presenting the grant for costume design. (He was winning, too, successful his schtick with Jimmy Kimmel.) Elba, whose vocation includes a batch of what mightiness beryllium called prestige genre, has specified earthy poise and gravity that 1 assumes he’s done each the Shakespeares and Shaws and Ibsens, but “The Wire” and “Luther” were much his thing. He was connected galore a privation database arsenic the adjacent James Bond, and portion that’s seemingly not going to happen, thing of the benignant gets a workout here.

Elba plays British Prime Minister Sam Clarke, described arsenic “increasingly embattled” successful his sixth twelvemonth successful office, who is astir to conscionable Cena’s precocious elected American president, Will Derringer, connected the eve of a travel to Trieste, Italy, for a NATO conference. (Why Clarke is embattled is neither explained nor important.) Derringer resents Clarke, who can’t instrumentality him seriously, for having seemed to endorse his hostile by taking him retired for food and chips. (This is simply a recurring theme.) An planetary prima successful the Schwarzenegger/Stallone mold — “Water Cobra” is his franchise — 1 mightiness telephone Derringer’s predetermination ridiculous, but I unrecorded successful a authorities that really did elite Schwarzenegger arsenic its governor, twice. Wet down the ears (“He inactive hasn’t figured retired the quality betwixt a property league and a property junket,” idiosyncratic says), Derringer thinks a batch of himself, his airplane, his knowing Paul McCartney and his position. Beyond aspirational platitudes, helium has nary existent politics, but arsenic we archetypal spot him carrying his girl connected his shoulders, we cognize he’s truly OK.

Directed by Ilya Naishuller (“Nobody”) and written by Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec and Harrison Query, the movie begins with a country acceptable astatine the Tomatino Festival successful Buñol, Spain, successful which large crowds of participants lob tomatoes astatine each different successful a monolithic nutrient combat — it’s a existent happening — foreshadowing the humor that volition soon beryllium flowing done the municipality square, arsenic a squad of unidentified atrocious guys ambush the British and American agents who are tracking them. They’ve been acceptable up, declares M16 cause Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), who is aboriginal reported “missing and presumed dead” — meaning, of course, that she is precise overmuch live and volition beryllium seen again; indeed, we volition spot rather a batch of her.

Also starring is Priyanka Chopra Jonas arsenic M16 cause Noel Bisset, who is tasked with protecting the 2 heads of state.

(Chiabella James / Prime Video)

Meanwhile, the premier curate and the president committee Air Force One for Trieste. They speech movies: “I similar existent cinema,” says Clarke, who claims to person ne'er seen 1 of Derringer’s pictures. “I’m classically trained,” the movie prima protests. “Did you cognize I erstwhile did a play with Edward Norton? But the beingness keeps telling maine I look chill with a weapon successful my manus — artifact gun.”

Following attacks wrong and without the plane, the 2 parachute into Belarus and, for the remainder of the film, marque their mode present and there, trying to evade the backstage service of Russian arms trader and sadistic creep Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine) led by your emblematic gangly blond pistillate assassin (Katrina Durden). They’ll besides conscionable Stephen Root arsenic a machine feline and Jack Quaid arsenic a comical American agent. Elsewhere, Vice President Elizabeth Kirk (Carla Gugino) takes charge. (“Bad?” is the enactment I wrote. I’ve seen my stock of governmental thrillers.)

There volition beryllium hand-to-hand combat, missiles, machine-gun shoot-em-ups, much than a mates helicopters and a car pursuit done the streets of Trieste — a beauteous seaside/hillside metropolis I urge if you’re reasoning of Italy this summer. Must I archer you that antipathy volition crook to appreciation arsenic our heroes marque communal cause, get a small idiosyncratic and, with the capable Agent Bisset, go real-life enactment heroes? That they are middle-aged is not an issue, though determination is simply a gag astir the American movie prima being little acceptable than the U.K. politician.

The logline portends a comedy, perchance a parody, adjacent a satire. It’s decidedly the archetypal of these, if not particularly subtle oregon crisp (Derringer stuck successful a tree, hanging from a tangled parachute; Clarke mounting disconnected a fume weaponry successful his ain look — that did marque maine laugh), a small spot the second, and not astatine each the third, adjacent though it sniffs astir authorities a bit. Above all, similar many, astir oregon practically each enactment films, it’s a phantasy successful which galore things hap that would not and could not ever, ever hap successful the existent world, due to the fact that that’s not however radical oregon physics behave. (It surely doesn’t correspond America successful 2025.)

There is conscionable arsenic overmuch quality improvement oregon backstory arsenic is indispensable to marque the players look much oregon little human. Plot-wise determination are a batch of twists, due to the fact that the publication superimposes a mates of acquainted villainous agendas into a azygous narrative; it’s mildly diverting without being compelling, which, I would think, volition yet enactment successful its favour arsenic hectic, convulsive airy entertainment. Not adjacent counting the orgy of anonymous decease that has qualified arsenic household amusement for immoderate clip present — blasted video games, I won’t reason — it’s a painless watch, and, successful its cheery, fantastic absurdity, thing of a respite from the messier, crazier, much unbelievable satellite awaiting you erstwhile the credits person rolled.