Heads of State review: John Cena and Idris Elba are having so much fun in action movie, you will too

Make no mistake. Heads of State is dumb.

It is a dunce-cap-wearing, sit-in-the-corner piece of mindless entertainment that will impart zero wisdom, not even a pub trivia fact. All it requires if your brain is to remember to not choke.

Because you will be working those throat muscles. You will cackle. You will guffaw. You will howl with laughter.

Heads of State is so goddamn fun.

This is exactly the kind of popcorn entertainment that lets you check out for a couple of hours, forget about the world, forget about your bills, forget about the dirty dishes lying in the sink.

Loads of movies strive for that, and many even claim to be, but few succeed. The line between when it works and when it doesn’t lies in how a film convincingly captures the viewer’s attention so that either you don’t notice the ludicrous degree to which you’ve been asked to suspend your disbelief, or you don’t care.

The moment you start asking, “Well, how did they do that, that doesn’t make sense,” the illusion is broken. Reality, bills, dirty dishes come rushing in.

Heads of State keeps that veil up by the sheer force of its charm. It is so over-the-top and silly – and knows it – and packs out its cast with blindingly charismatic stars, and outrageous action sequences, that there is no room to stop and contemplate things like, oh, you know, the laws of physics.

You just want to hang out.

Top billing goes to John Cena and Idris Elba, two stars that wouldn’t be able suppress their betwitching allure even if they tried. Together, they’re wizards. We mere mortals stand powerless in the face of their collective charm.

Cena plays Will Derringer, a newly inaugurated US president who used to be an action movie star. He’s hugely popular and loves to break out a catchphrase or two from his franchise, Water Cobra.

Elba plays Sam Clarke, the British prime minister who is six years into his term and battling high disapproval ratings which we’re told probably has to do with the fact he’s held in and doesn’t let anyone see another side to him.

Sam is super serious about public service and has no time for Will’s buffoonery and showboating when the two meet for the first time at a joint press conference in London. It goes as well you might expect from two bickering alpha males.

Their advisors (Sarah Niles and Richard Coyle) hatch a plan and suggest that Sam hitch a ride on Air Force One to the NATO meeting in Italy. Think of the photo op.

On the way there, a saboteur on the inside allows Air Force One to be attacked by goons working for a Russian weapons dealer (Paddy Considine), who is hell bent on punishing NATO.

The plane goes down in an exciting sequence that includes a barrel roll that the production has borrowed from The Mummy, the only part of that abominable Tom Cruise movie worth remembering.

Stranded in Belarus by themselves, unable to trust anyone or let the world know they’re alive, Heads of State morphs into kind of an unlikely buddy cop comedy in which they have to fight for survival.

There’s a third lead in Priyanka Chopra, who plays a MI6 agent who is missing in action, but will obviously show up later, and she is a formidable force, kicking arse where Sam and Will might be deficient.

There’s a cracker of a supporting cast that every time someone pops up, you go, “Oh, damn! They got Carla Gugino”, along with the likes of Jack Quaid, Stephen Root, and even Sharlto Copley, who, spoiler alert, shows up just to be killed off in the opening sequence.

That’s the mark of a fun project, when actors who could command meatier roles are happy to come along and just play for a bit.

Heads of State is nothing if not playful, and the key to that is the often withering banter, between Cena and Elba. Their characters land many a witty blow on the other – like when Sam derides as Will for being “gym strong” and not “strong strong”.

The script and the story is nothing exciting, but Cena and Elba’s tete-a-tete chemistry is such a delight, while Ilya Naishuller’s direction draws on his experience with big action set-pieces in the likes of Nobody and Hardcore Henry, much can be forgiven.

Even dumb-dumbs can be the funnest person at a party.

Rating: 3/5

Heads of State is streaming on Prime from July 2