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Heads Of State may take us up in Air Force One, as John Cena‘s (Jackpot!) President goes toe-to-toe with Idris Elba‘s (Sonic The Hedgehog 3) Prime Minister, but everyone taking a busman’s holiday in this new Amazon Prime movie.
Opening with a scene like the beginning of the first Mission Impossible film, with oddly-male-named Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas – Citadel) on an operation in Spain, which leaves just her alive, this is a film which goes on way too long, but does pack in more ridiculous action scenes than the average such movie, whether it’s car chases (sometimes in a fire engine), trying to survive from a plane crash, and punch-ups aplenty.
However, quite surprisingly, it largely works, especially for a film that wasn’t available for review in advance, so you expect it’s going to be complete pants, and it’s not.
Cena and Elba equip themselves well, even if they just behave like they normally do, with Cena’s President slightly echoing Reagan, by being a former movie star, albeit in action films such as the Water Cobra series, making him out as a man who can’t deal with violence in real life, even though his films are full of it.
And despite Paddy Considine (Mobland) being the definite weak link in this chain, as supposed Russian terrorist (since his accent is awful) Viktor Gradov, what peps up Heads Of State is a number of comic asides, such as after an exchange of crossfire, a moment of silence, broken only by a terrorist limping down the stairs, moaning in his native language about being shot, only to be finally put out of his misery as he finds himself right in front of Idris Elba, who’s holding a shotgun… BOOM! Timing is important, and the film gets scenes like that perfectly.
There are too many characters in it, though, which just extend the endless runtime, one being Novocaine‘s Jack Quaid in one scene assisting the leads.
NOTE: There are NO mid- or post-credits scenes.
Heads Of State is on Prime Video now. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 116 minutes
Release date: July 2nd 2025
Studio: Amazon Prime Video
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (4.6K), Anamorphic Panavision)
Rating: 6/10
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Producers: John Rickard, Peter Safran
Screenplay: Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, Harrison Query
Music: Steven Price
Cast:
Sam Clarke: Idris Elba
Will Derringer: John Cena
Noel Bisset: Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Viktor Gradov: Paddy Considine
VP Elizabeth Kirk: Carla Gugino
Arthur Hammond: Stephen Root
Marty Comer: Jack Quaid
Simone Bradshaw: Sarah Niles
Quincy Harrington: Richard Coyle
Echelon Director: Peter De Jersey
Sasha the Killer: Aleksandr Kuznetsov
Olga the Killer: Katrina Durden
The Chef: Wade Briggs
Cat Derringer: Clare Foster
Sawyer Derringer: Robyn Pennington
Jack Gordon: Adrian Lukis
Agent Coop: Sharlto Copley
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.