HEADS OF STATE (2025)
When the UK Prime Minister and US President become the targets of a foreign adversary, they're forced to rely on one another to thwart a global conspiracy.
Perhaps I’m becoming cynical, or maybe I’ve been reviewing films for too long. When I encounter another action “popcorn flick” that’s highly entertaining but lacks the intelligence it aspires to—or should have possessed—I find myself less charmed and more annoyed. This might be why, despite Heads of State being as fun as Novocaine (2025) and boasting a buddy dynamic almost as strong as Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024), I couldn’t bring myself to like it as much.
The premise itself is pure goofy buddy comedy gold. William Derringer (John Cena), an action star who transitioned into politics and became the President of the United States, is convinced by his trusted assistant, Simone Bradshaw (Sarah Niles), to give UK Prime Minister Samuel Clark (Idris Elba) a ride to the upcoming NATO conference aboard Air Force One. A personal feud between the President and Prime Minister threatens their nations’ “special relationship,” and both countries hope this prolonged aeroplane journey can resolve it. Naturally, the flight turns out to be anything but normal. When Air Force One is attacked, the two leaders must embark on an epic quest to uncover the culprits, save their countries, and ultimately, the world.
I’ve been a big fan of Idris Elba since his days on Luther (2010-19). He consistently adds gravitas and class to any situation, no matter how implausible. John Cena’s superb comic timing makes him the ideal foil to Elba’s straight man, ensuring their dynamic truly works. Furthermore, there are no significant issues with the rest of the cast.
MI6 super spy Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra) is, predictably, a typical “strong female lead (™)”. However, Chopra is at least a competent fighter. I particularly appreciated that, unlike with many such female leads, we’re not asked to believe she can effortlessly defeat men three times her size. Noel is allowed to lose the occasional fight or, at minimum, struggle to win. I was also glad that she copiously uses groin shots, a natural tactic for any relatively small woman to level the playing field against a larger male opponent. Additionally, the writers give her a fondness for puns, which, at the very least, provides a hint of personality rarely seen in this “strong female” trope.
Even the love story between Clark and Bisset was genuinely sweet and one of the more believable elements in the film. This is always a positive for an action film, a genre where romantic subplots often feel shoehorned in at best, and like boring detours at worst.
CIA agent Marty Comer (Jack Quaid), a superfan of Derringer, is the only other actor and character, besides the two leads, who fully embraces the film’s inherent silliness. Between Heads of State, The Boys, and the aforementioned Novocaine, Quaid is rapidly becoming a staple of action comedy, a role that suits him surprisingly well. His single significant scene in this film is a showstopper and will undoubtedly have action fans falling in love with him all over again.
I don’t mind that nothing beyond the first 10 minutes would ever be allowed to happen in any way, shape, or form to a real US President or UK Prime Minister. That’s precisely what films are for. One is expected to suspend disbelief and accept that, in this Hollywood-created world, spies freely kill each other in front of thousands of witnesses, the President’s plane can be infiltrated with surprising ease, and politicians have immediate access to underground arms dealers.
What truly bothers me is Heads of State‘s lack of gumption to fully embrace its inherently goofy premise. With a braver or more inventive director at the helm, this could have been a brilliant parody of a mid-1990s Harrison Ford or Arnold Schwarzenegger action film. Indeed, John Cena’s Derringer is essentially a Schwarzenegger parody already, so why not go “whole hog” and turn the entire film into a full-blown joke?
If director Ilya Naishuler (Nobody) had leaned into a more spoof-oriented Zucker Brothers or Mel Brooks direction, this film could have been one of the greatest cinematic homages or parodies of all time. We might have had a political thriller version of Tropic Thunder (2009). Even if they didn’t commit to full-on parody, had co-writers and executive producers Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec allowed the characters to more frequently acknowledge the plot’s inherent absurdity, the film could have at least been on par with the Melissa McCarthy-starring Spy (2015).
Instead, the antagonists are neither over-the-top nor goofy; they are simply depressing and brooding. Indeed, everyone, apart from Elba, Cena, and Quaid, plays their roles with absolute solemnity. Even the most preposterous situations, which would never occur in real life, are treated by the actors and the director as if they were genuine nuclear threats.
In this instance, the casting of extremely talented actors in these supporting roles, including Carla Gugino as the Vice President and Paddy Considine as an evil Russian arms dealer, proved to be more of a hindrance than a help. Rather than embodying a purely evil villainous archetype—which the character was clearly intended to be—Considine imbues his arms dealer with a pathos that significantly diminishes the film’s enjoyment during his scenes. Similarly, scenes featuring Gugino’s Vice President feel lifted directly from a Tom Clancy thriller, rather than contributing to a fun action romp.
These rapid tonal shifts, jarringly moving from the goofiness and fun of the action scenes and the banter between Elba and Cena, inflict an emotional whiplash on the audience that is difficult to recover from.
More than anything, Heads of State suffers from a paradoxical flaw: it tried too hard, yet simultaneously not hard enough. It aspired to be a genuine political thriller, an ambition it could never realistically fulfil. By attempting to blend drama with comedy, it failed to commit sufficiently to being the smart, snarky, and entertaining satire its premise truly warranted. The film’s ultimate failure is encapsulated by its attempt to vaguely incorporate current political debates at the very end, without offering any substantive commentary. You can either craft a clever satire of current events or a horror thriller that warns of impending atrocities; you cannot effectively achieve both in a single film.
Consequently, while Heads of State was consistently amusing thanks to Cena and Elba’s strong performances, it remains a film I cannot fully endorse or recommend. I suspect I’ve encountered too many action films this year that are merely “entertaining enough to get by.” I believe it’s time we began demanding more.
USA | 2025 | 113 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH
Cast & Crew
director: Ilya Naishuller.
writers: Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec & Harrison Query (story by Harrison Query).
starring: John Cena, Idris Elba, Priyanka Chopra, Carla Gugino, Jack Quaid, Stephen Root & Paddy Considine.
