‘Heads of State’ movie review: An unabashedly silly throwback action film
It’s a sad state of affairs that Amazon Prime has an old-fashioned summer blockbuster that is jettisoned straight to streaming.
Heads of State is the type of ridiculous, self-deprecating, and slightly dumb piece of action-paced entertainment that defined the 1990s, an era in which the likes of Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay were considered to be serious filmmakers. Although Amazon Studios has been making a breakthrough in releasing films to success in theatres, such as this year’s Project Hail Mary, it still lumps some star-studded releases directly onto its service, where they are guaranteed to have no cultural impact.
That a spectacle-driven action film like Heads of State is now being campaigned for ‘Best Television Movie’ at the 2026 Emmy Awards is a strange indictment of where the streaming wars are at, but this shouldn’t be roped in with the other originals that Amazon has cast aside, such as the Eddie Murphy vehicle The Pickup or Peter Farrelly’s Balls Up. It’s a genuine buddy cop adventure, and one that takes advantage of the unique talents of its two stars.
Although the film is a broad satire of how childish political disputes can be, it does present a fairly compelling portrayal of leadership. Idris Elba stars as the UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke, who prepares for a diplomatic mission alongside the newly elected American President Will Derringer, played by John Cena, who used to be a prominent action star.
Clarke sees Derringer as nothing but a buffoon, but they’ve become allies during a Nato summit that’s convened to discuss a controversial surveillance programme. It’s amidst the bickering of world leaders that the vicious Russian arms dealer Viktor Gradov, played by Paddy Considine, stages a massive attack that leaves Derringer and Clarke stranded in Eastern Europe, where they must work alongside the MI6 agent Priyanka Chopra’s Noel Bissett to stop the conspirators from completing their plan.
The depiction of each world leader, including those from other nations that make brief appearances, is essentially what would appear in a Saturday Night Live sketch that adheres to the broadest possible caricatures, but that’s not a bad thing for a film that is relatively light on its feet. The backdrop of stylised goofiness is effective in building up a classical buddy comedy scenario of two mismatched heroes forced through improbable situations to become allied; not only are there some clever cultural differences between Great Britain and the United States that are noted, but Clarke and Derringer have completely different leadership styles.
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What’s key is that these two very athletic, seasoned actors are humorously cast as incompetent action heroes, where Clarke doesn’t have an ounce of the expertise he’s shown in his action films, and Derringer has begun to lose confidence in his ability to connect with the people who voted for him. In both cases, the characters resist the suggestion that they are simply figureheads by doing something that will have a direct impact on world peace.
Elba has proven on more than one occasion that he’s a versatile leading man, but Heads of State takes advantage of how secretly funny he can be. His dry sensibilities are the perfect counterpart to the bombastic eccentricity of Cena, especially since it’s not his first shot at playing a world leader; he amusingly played a similarly dishevelled member of the executive branch in Kathryn Bigelow’s House of Dynamite, but Heads of State allows him to have a lot more fun.
As for Cena, he’s proven once again that wrestling can be a gateway to legitimate acting. Years of experience in WWE have given him room to develop skills as a physical performer, and he’s perfectly cast here as a bumbling, almost superficially brave guy who learns that being a hero is more than just acting like one. Director Ilya Naishuller is yet another international filmmaker who has been adept at English-language action films because he understands the importance of movement and visual diversity. There’s not a single set piece that isn’t etched in colour and complicated by various objects and bystanders who fall in chaos’s path.
While he previously took a more gritty approach to the underrated Bob Odenkirk star vehicle Nobody, this film’s PG-13 rating gave him an opportunity to do slapstick, making it feel closer to Looney Tunes than John Wick. Nonetheless, Naishuller does find a way to blend martial arts, gunplay, and an ample amount of explosions into setpieces that don’t become derivative. It was the lack of his signature touch that made last year’s Nobody 2 feel like a slightly disappointing follow-up, but it was to the advantage of Heads of State.
The issues that could be raised with Heads of State are the same that could be brought up when discussing any number of the action films that it is clearly drawing from. The villain’s plot makes little sense, and a major twist regarding the reveal of a secondary bad guy is predictable for anyone who is even halfway paying attention. Not all of the one-liners hit, but there’s a lot that do, especially given the commitment of Elba and Cena. It would be condescending to say that the film is a ‘watch and turn off your brain’ kind, but it’s one that can be enjoyed without applying a significant amount of thought.
