Heads of State review — stupendously idiotic but eminently watchable
Idris Elba plays British PM Sam Clarke, a cautious, rule-abiding politician who's suffering a conspicuous Starmer-like slump in the polls and finds himself 'increasingly embattled' in Westminster. John Cena, meanwhile, is President Will Derringer, a crass US populist and Clarke's ostensible nemesis. Derringer is a former Hollywood actor who speaks from the gut and is effectively clueless on global politics. If only there were some sort of violent yet localised crisis that would plunge both men into action and allow them to learn the value of oppositional character traits and the fundamental importance of the Nato alliance while also snapping necks, machinegunning faceless henchmen and leaping from exploding helicopters over downtown Warsaw.
Step forward Paddy Considine and a strangulated accent as Russian arms dealer Viktor Gradov (he says 'Qui-yet yir math!!' for 'Shut your mouth'), a lethal psychopath nurturing a grudge against Nato who kicks off the nonstop narrative boom-bang-a-bang by blowing Air Force One out of the sky.
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It is stupendously idiotic yet eminently watchable. Elba is delightfully dyspeptic throughout and takes several potshots at the nonsense around him, noting wryly, 'I like actual cinema.' He shares credible romantic chemistry with Priyanka Chopra Jonas as an MI6 bruiser and former paramour called Noel Bisset — there was possibly a better movie in their story. The Russian film-maker Ilya Naishuller (Nobody) directs from a screenplay that's co-written by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec (Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol) and pillories 'America First' politics while also hammering pro-Nato messaging. 'If Nato falls, there's no more backstop against despots and dictators,' one of Derringer's panic-stricken aides warns. Meanwhile, back in the exploding helicopter …★★★☆☆12, 116minOn Prime Video
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