Heads of State Review
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Date Created: 2025-07-02 14:00
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Heads of State Review: Directed by Ilya Naishuller, this new action-comedy movie on Prime Video with a starry cast and an even bigger set of explosions. The movie stars John Cena, Idris Elba and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, with supporting roles from Carla Gugino, Jack Quaid, Stephen Root, Sarah Niles and Paddy Considine. The movie, which is approximately 113 minutes long, revolves around two mighty world leaders who are forced to put aside their rivalry to thwart a global plot.
In the Heads of State movie, the plot revolves around U.S. President Will Derringer and U.K. Prime Minister Sam Clarke are not best buddies. In real life, our rapport is so bad that it’s sending both countries into a spin. But when a lethal threat is made against both of them, they have no option but to join forces — with a little assistance from MI6 agent Noel Bissett (played by Priyanka Chopra). What follows is a runaway, over-the-top action, slapstick humour and chaos, plenty of it.
Heads of State Review
Prime Video’s Heads of State amazed me with its wild and innovative action sequences. The director is a master at making action thrilling. Some of the scenes, particularly the assault on Air Force One, are so tense and well-shot that I found myself sitting up to see them. The movie plays out as part spy thriller, part buddy comedy, and while it doesn’t quite work every time, I have to say I was kept entertained throughout. There were scenes that left me laughing one moment and were best enjoyed eye-candy-wise the next, even when they didn’t quite work, either in context or otherwise.
My favourite aspect of the movie was the dynamic between John Cena and Idris Elba. So it would be pretty strange if they were precisely the same type of individuals. Cena brings his typical snappy-humoured one-liners, and Elba counterbalances those with his tough and no-nonsense attitude. They’re basically a contemporary reinterpretation of the old “mismatched duo” cliche — except here, the mismatched duo is made up of two pretty formidable world leaders, instead of cops or spies.
This Prime Video movie Heads of State, is not trying to make some profound comment on politics. But I liked how it shows that even great individuals need to learn teamwork and humility. It’s a tiny lesson under a lot of big action sequences, but it’s there.
I had always loved Priyanka in whatever role she takes up, and so I wasn’t surprised that she dominated the screen the way she did. She is the sort of agent you’d want in your corner — tough and smart, and stylish. Her screen time is shorter than I’d have preferred, but she adds a prickly presence to the film. Whatever else you may not care for about her in this film, she’s also considerably more confident in the action scenes this time, and that’s to be seen. I do wish the film had provided her with more in the way of depth or background. But for hard action heroines, she’s very much part of the team.
Now, I know that is not equitable to say—the movie Heads of State is either going to be a laugh riot or a total miss, and by that I mean some of the jokes hit, and some of them just made me miss (but I did laugh at some places; mostly of the more silly variety between Elba and Cena). But then the humour would be forced or just kind of arbitrary at times. It’s like the movie itself couldn’t quite decide whether or not it wanted to be serious, and that confusion gets transferred every now and then into the script.
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Despite this, it’s not the type of film you watch for depth of interlocution. It’s the one you play when your brain craves a break. If you have seen Red Notice or The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Heads of State will come across as vaguely familiar. It’s not particularly original, but it doesn’t pretend to be something else: loud, quick and enjoyable. Okay, the story is predictable. And of course, some of the cast do feel underutilised. But if you just want a movie to chill out with at the weekend, there’s nothing amiss here.
Prime Video Heads of State Review: Summing Up
Heads of State isn’t a great film, but it doesn’t try to be. It gives you good action, decent acting and plenty of humour to make it worthwhile. It is not something out of the box, but it is also not terrible. If you’re an action-thriller enthusiast with a rare sidekick of humour, or you like any of the cast, you’ll likely enjoy this one. Just don’t get your expectations up too high about anything new or profound, though. Do it for the entertainment value — and perhaps for John Cena’s surprisingly good one-liners.
Heads of State 2025 is streaming on Prime Video.
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