In Heads of State, Idris Elba (left) and John Cena are cast to their strengths, but the script falls short of their talents.Chiabella James/Prime/Supplied
Heads of State
Directed by Ilya Naishuller
Written by Josh Applebaum, Andre Nemec and Harrison Query
Starring Idris Elba, John Cena and Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Classification N/A; 113 minutes
Streaming on Prime Video starting July 2
Even though the new action-comedy Heads of State is yet another direct-to-streaming wash-out, you cannot wholly blame the algorithmic-like thinking that went into the Prime Video production.
The last time its stars, Idris Elba and John Cena, were paired together on-screen, the result was the wonderfully vulgar superhero romp The Suicide Squad. The last time that Russian director Ilya Naishuller was given gobs of money, he made the similarly entertaining Nobody, which paved an entirely new career path for star Bob Odenkirk. And the last time such supporting players as Jack Quaid, Paddy Considine, Carla Gugino and Stephen Root appeared just about anywhere, most everyone walked away happy.
The cinematic math behind Heads of State, it adds up.
And yet, the actual calculations of the film have produced such a narratively and aesthetically dire affair – somehow enraging and boring at the same time – that Prime Video subscribers can only conclude that Jeff Bezos has been spending too much time planning his multimillion-dollar Venice wedding and not enough paying attention to what is going on inside his own company. Heads of State might not be the small-screen equivalent of a prenup, but it’s definitely grounds for divorce.
For a few seconds at its very beginning, there is at least a smidgen of hope. As the thoughtful and proper British Prime Minister Sam Clarke, Elba is a cool and calculated hero, only rattled when he’s forced to contend with the strong-arm theatrics of Cena’s newly elected U.S. President Will Derringer, a former action-movie star with a filmography not unlike the man who’s playing him. After the two politicians are forced by their underlings to play nice aboard Air Force One, the heroes are thrust into a budget-Harrison Ford thriller when their plane is hijacked by a collective of ill-defined terrorists.
After parachuting out of the plane and landing in Belarus, the leaders of the free world must use only their brawn and wits (well, whatever wits the screenplay affords) to turn their special relationship into one of pure survival.
That’s a decent high-concept premise to hold together a fun little B-movie adventure, and Elba and Cena are certainly cast playing to their strengths. Yet the exhausting script – complete with stock villains, oh-you-don’t-say twists and the useless insertion of a love interest (the charisma-free Priyanka Chopra Jonas) for Elba’s character – consistently fails its stars. Not only do the POTUS and PM escape the wilds of Eastern Europe fairly quickly, they then stumble into a series of especially shoddy action sequences that feel duller than a dozen G7 summits.
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Not that Naishuller seems all that interested in helping matters. Wherever the committed madman, who gave audiences the enjoyably sleazy Nobody and 2015’s even skeezier Hardcore Henry, might have gone is anybody’s guess. More often than not, Heads of State feels as if it is missing its own leader, as if the director was simply a package lost in the Prime delivery mail.
What’s most distressing about Heads of State, though, is what it portends for Cena, who should by this stage in his career be top-lining the biggest of studio blockbusters, just like his character in the film once did. (Don’t worry about Elba, no one will see this – or rather, no one will remember they’ve seen this – and he’ll be fine.)
Between this, 2023’s similarly trashy-in-a-bad-way Freelance, and half a dozen other easily forgettable genre efforts, Cena seems intent on becoming the biggest movie star to disappear entirely into the streaming-world void. You’ll see his name, you’ll recognize his face. But you won’t watch his movies. Not really.
