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An Above-Average Streaming Movie
‘Heads of State’ is not your typical, run-of-the-mill Prime Video movie that was dumped on the service on some random Summer weekend. It has a tight script and modest runtime, some great action sequences, and is actually funny. ‘Heads of State’ doesn’t try to be something it’s not, which is why it succeeds in an era filled with soulless streaming slop (that somehow costs hundreds of millions of dollars to produce). Thanks to the chemistry between John Cena and Idris Elba’s, it makes for a well-spent night on your living room couch, which should have been a well-spent night at the theater. Oh, and the most unrealistic thing about ‘Heads of State’ is that the U.S. President isn’t a delusional geriatric.
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Not a surprise to anyone who’s paid attention to world politics in the past year, the President of The United States and the British Prime Minister don’t get along very well. Will Derringer (John Cena) is a former Hollywood action star with the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the brains of Sylvester Stallone (not surprising there are several ‘Rambo’ references) while his counterpart Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) is a no-nonsense veteran of the British Navy. They have little respect for each other, publicly bashing one another in front of the press at Derringer’s state visit across the pond.
Their respective Chief of Staffs, Bradshaw (Sarah Niles) and Harrington (Richard Coyle), advise them to go to the NATO summit together on Air Force One (a plane that Derringer proceeds to brag about), but that proves to be the idea that almost gets them killed.
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An operative cosplaying as a chef outsmarts almost everyone on the glorious American plane (which is quite ridiculous but I’m willing to look past it), killing crew members and Secret Service agents left and right with a knife. Derringer and Clarke race around the many cabins of the plane like they are lost in a maze as missiles from a warplane rain hell on them, somehow not sucking them out into the beyond.
After being given instructions to find a safe house in Warsaw, Derringer and Clarke are thrown out of the planes with parachutes on their back, landing in Belarus and stumbling upon several dancing men in matching sweatsuits (one of which has an extremely amusing haircut).
We meet several allies throughout the rest of their journey as they go from foes to friends, including a delightfully silly agent played Jack Quaid, reuniting with Priyanka Chopra’s badass MI6 agent, and a shotgun-wielding Belarusian woman who raises sheep.
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Competently Designed And Directed Action Sequences
‘Heads of State’ director Ilya Naishuller isn’t a stranger to the action genre. His most recent feature, ‘Nobody’, was a David Leitch produced action movie released in the midst of the pandemic, one that stood out in a time where the movie industry wasn’t in the best shape. One that wasn’t a fluke.
From the very first action sequence we get, it is obvious that ‘Heads of State’ is a step above other action comedies released this year on streaming services (cough, cough ‘Back in Action’). Set during a vibrant tomato throwing festival in Spain, there is some good action with guns, explosions, and Stephen Root, who doesn’t look any different than his ‘Office Space’ days. Similarly to the Josh Hartnett vehicle ‘Fight or Flight’, the camera dynamically moves during high-octane action sequences like this one.
The comedy stayed consistent throughout each scene, as well, not going overboard whatsoever (except for some puns about trains). Being able to use different objects and weapons, besides guns and knives of course, for some of the kills makes any action movie better. ‘Ballerina’ saw Ana de Armas killing people with grenades and having a flame thrower duel reminiscent of those in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise.
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More apparent in recent years, action sequences have become soulless, not having any identity other than blood and CGI body parts flying across the screen. ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ (no offense to you diehards) is extremely guilty of this. In its “signature” scene (which is just a blatant riff on Park Chan-wook’s ‘Oldboy’), the camera moves along a dolly while the two titular characters sloppily duel it out against other Deadpool variants. There’s nothing more to it than that. The problem is that fans will call this “peak” and the studio will do nothing about it.
‘Heads of State’ takes each of its action sequences seriously. The crew doesn’t phone them in and cash that juicy check from Mr. Bezos. They actually care about the product they are putting out into the world, even if it’s only a subscription-based service.
Why Wasn’t ‘Heads of State’ Released In Theaters?
Most films released on streamers like Netflix and Prime Video feel as though they were shot to be watched on a TV or laptop, but ‘Heads of State’ is different. It should’ve had a theatrical release, especially with two marketable stars in John Cena and Idris Elba. We used to have silly action comedies like this all the time. Remember ‘White House Down’? Remember ‘Central Intelligence’? These movies may not be groundbreaking nor the best thing ever put on the silver screen, but hey, at least they were able to be seen with a crowd (something we should have the option to do with ‘Heads of State’).
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What has happened to movies in the comedy genre post-covid? Why do we feel the need to dump them on streaming services every chance we get? There’s no reason for this practice to continue, unless the greed of these major corporations more interested in content than films stays persistent.
Just a month ago, the Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd comedy ‘Friendship’ hit theaters and was one of the best we’ve gotten so far in the 2020s by a country mile. Laughing out loud inside a packed theater was truly wonderful, and I don’t remember the last time a movie released in theaters ever got a reaction like that. There were people hooting and hollering every other minute, but we can’t share those experiences nearly as often anymore, all because similar films are dumped behind a paywall and drift into the void of the internet.
By Aidan Reidy
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Aidan Reidy is a writer who’s currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in motion pictures screenwriting at the University of Miami. He is passionate about the entertainment industry and enjoys watching most genres. He is interested in every aspect of filmmaking ranging from technical aspects like editing and sound mixing to acting and directing styles. Hollywood Insider’s commitment to substance-filled articles rather than gossip columns attracted him to the website, creating an enjoyable environment for him to write in and aligning with his personal values, as well.
Aidan Reidy is a writer who’s currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in motion pictures screenwriting at the University of Miami. He is passionate about the entertainment industry and enjoys watching most genres. He is interested in every aspect of filmmaking ranging from technical aspects like editing and sound mixing to acting and directing styles. Hollywood Insider’s commitment to substance-filled articles rather than gossip columns attracted him to the website, creating an enjoyable environment for him to write in and aligning with his personal values, as well.
