Heads of State - A Very Fun Action Comedy With Nice Chemistry of Its Lead Stars

I said in my previous post that there were two movies released in different streaming platforms on Wednesday. Though I was interested in this film which was released on Prime Video, I opted to watch the other one first and only see it last night. All right then, why don't I just get to it?

Brief Story Line

Will Derringer (John Cena - Ricky Stanicky, Peacemaker TV series etc) was the US president who used to be a famous action movie star. Meanwhile Sam Clarke (Idris Elba - Sonic the Hedgehog 3, The Dark Tower etc) was the British Prime Minister and also an army veteran who disliked Will as he believed him only using popularity and did not really have political ability. When both met for the first time in London, they were unable to see eye to eye especially related to the joint CIA and MI6 mission earlier to capture international arms dealer Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine - Deep Cover, House of the Dragon TV series etc), led by senior agent Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas - Citadel TV series, The Matrix Resurrections etc).

As suggested by Sam's Chief of Staff Quincy (Richard Coyle - Chilling Adventures of Sabrina TV series etc) and his counter part Simone (Sarah Niles - F1 etc), Will & Sam agreed to show their ability to cooperate by going for NATO's congress together. Unfortunately their trip would be a dangerous one when they were attacked by assassins and they had no choice but to work together to save their own lives and find the persons responsible.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Now that was really fun! I regretted a bit for not seeing this movie first when it was released. Nevertheless one day difference was not really a big deal since there was no spoiler to be avoided. Anyway this movie started off quite brightly with some pretty well done action sequence. But things gotten really interesting when Will and Sam were introduced. Somehow you could immediately feel the total opposites of these two Heads of State. While one was a by the book person who took his job seriously, the other one was inexperienced and seemed to be enjoying his popularity as the country leader. Obviously things did not go well when they met and there were plenty of occasions where I burst of laughter watching them (which caught the attention of my wife several times).

Now for an action comedy, I thought this one managed to blend the two genre nicely. The action was pretty awesome at times (that middle scene was surprisingly good) and there was even a rather over the top but exciting car chase scenes. The nice thing though that some of the action was rather humorous in nature and few times a bit slapstick that would make you smile/laugh. Obviously the part that me enjoy the film was the nice chemistry between John Cena and Idris Elba. They looked like they really had fun here. Oh the appearance of Priyanka Chopra Jonas also added entertainment value. I liked her character in this film and she managed to show some great moves as well. 

This movie was directed by Ilya Naishuller whose prior experience was directing the action hit Nobody and a lesser known 2015 sci-fi film Hardcore Henry which would explain the nice work here. It was based on story by Harrison Query who also wrote the screenplay together with Josh Applebaum & Andre Nemec (writers of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles etc). I noticed during the closing credits that Idris Elba and John Cena were credited as Executive Producer as well. Aside from the cast I mentioned above, there were also some pretty well known stars here such as Stephen Root (Perry Mason TV series etc) as Arthur Hammond the hacker, Carla Gugino (Gunpowder Milkshake etc) as Vice President Elizabeth Kirk, Jack Quaid (The Boys TV series etc) as CIA agent Marty Commer, even Sharlto Copley (Monkey Man etc) as Coop another CIA agent and several others.

The film had a duration of 113 minutes including closing credits. There was a brief mid end credit scene which I thought was a nice addition. Whether or not it's a teaser for a sequel in future is anybody's guess. But for now, I'll just treat it just as something to give closure. Through out the whole movie, I was entertained as it did not have any boring moment. The story was very light and I do not need to overthink. Although there was a twist towards the end, it was not surprising at all as we could easily guessed it. So if you are in the mood for light and very fun action comedy film where two opposite kind of persons were forced to work together to survive, then you are in for a treat. Now I am going to recommend my wife to watch it so we can have fun talking about it.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars