John Cena

Idris Elba

Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Paddy Considine

Carla Gugino

Stephen Root

Jack Quaid

Sarah Niles

Richard Coyle

Aleksandr Kuznetsov

Katrina Durden

Wade Briggs

Clare Foster

Robyn Pennington

Adrian Lukis

Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė

Sharlto Copley

Steven Cree

Huw Novelli

Aled Llyr Thomas

Arthur Lee

Peter Guiney

Shaq B. Grant

Darya Charusha

Peter de Jersey

Carlotta Banat

Brendan Howley

Jon Tarcy

James Alper

Julianna Kurokawa

Cal-I Jonel

Sarah Diamond

Matthew Chambers

Adam Jackson-Smith

Mark Rhino Smith

Nathan Barris

Jamie Chapman

Walles Hamonde

Nicola Alexis

Evelyn Edwards

Luke Roberts

Daniel Emilio Baldock

Karine Dogliani

Fredrick Ruth

Andrey Dementyev

Clayton Grover

Nikolay Zotev

Abel Djilali

Naissa Bjorn

Ivan Isyanov

Marcus Viscidi

Sara Leal

James Cox

Kingdom Sibanda

Mark Hampton

Marshall Griffin

John Street

Dima Saranskov

Douglas Robson

Allan Gill

David Menkin

Alex Cahill

Ilya Naishuller

Milla Marlis

Nicole Deon

Sophie Young

Justine Magnier

Chuck Todd

Mario López

Dan Abrams

Will Rickard

Tom Harrison-Read

Oleg Podobin

Ben Davis

Matthew Bell

Peter Safran

John Rickard

Aidan Brindle

Doren John Farmer

Julian Morson

Chiabella James

Ryan Stuart

Cristian Knight

Ossie McLean

Jorge Sánchez

Elaine Kusmishko

Steven Warner

Steven Price

Harrison Query

Josh Appelbaum

André Nemec

Raymond Chen

Jakub Chilczuk

Fabricio de Vasconcellos Baessa Antonio

Matthew Sharp

Gary Dodkin

Jany Temime

Niall Moroney

Jackie Yau

Bilun Bilman

Gina Brown

Anđela Krča

Maja Ristić

Miranda Jackson

Season Kent

Jo Beckett

Peter Yip

Sophie Holland

John Papsidera

Ben Howard

Paul Barry

Megan Shank

Action

Thriller

Comedy

Heads of State

The Safran Company

Big Indie Pictures

Amazon MGM Studios

Potboiler Productions

United States of America

United Kingdom

беларуская мова

English

usa president

head of state

british prime minister

duringcreditsstinger

hilarious

amused

Manuel São Bento

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://movieswetextedabout.com/heads-of-state-movie-review-a-film-youll-forget-tomorrow-but-enjoy-today/

"Heads of State doesn't reinvent the wheel, nor does it pretend to. It's an action-comedy that knows exactly what it wants to be - and thanks to the full commitment of its leads, Ilya Naishuller's creative energy, and a light, entertaining tone, it rises above its formulaic script.

John Cena and Idris Elba form an unlikely but absolutely irresistible duo, Priyanka Chopra Jonas shines as a legitimate action star, and Naishuller's inventive vision delivers moments of pure fun. It may not leave a lasting impression, but for nearly two hours, it's a good time.

And sometimes, that's more than enough."

Rating: B

Chandler Danier

I like Cena, Alba and Hardcore Henry. This is a little long. The action is good but I skipped a lot of dialogue yet didn't miss any of the story.

More Belarusian dancing would have been better than all that banter. In the end, I had emotional investment in the characters and didn't get bored of the action scenes/events.

Barry...I mean Huey makes a great appearance.

"Heads of State" functions as a basic "buddy" team up, comedy action flick but its not without its limitations.

Lets start with the positives. Idris Elba and John Cena are perfect choices for this kind of film. Ones loud, a showman, in the role of the US president. The other's more grounded and somewhat acerbic, as the UK Prime Minister. The interplay between the two works well, moving from mutual disdain, to at times grudging, respect and even friendship, of a kind. 

The action is well paced too, it keeps coming with a little mostly light drama, in between, so you can catch your breath. 

Now to the downside. They can play this any way they like but its hard not to see elements of pro US/UK political and military propaganda, in operation. NATO are heavily pushed as the "good guys", taking on "bullies". Well tell that to the former Yugoslavia NATO bombed into the ground and ultimately, destroyed. Its unsurprising too, that the "baddies"are portrayed as Russian. 

In summary, if you step past the plug for US/UK exceptionalism there is a functional comedy action flick on offer, that's moderately watchable but by no means special.

<em>'Heads of State'</em> holds positives and negatives, for me. For the opening half of the movie, I was not feeling it. It just all felt so plain, stale and quite grating, to be honest. To my surprise, though, it actually improved as it went on. By the end, I think it actually won me over.

One element that was keeping my interest, even amongst the aforementioned slow initial chunk, was the cast. I like Idris Elba, I like John Cena. Therefore, I had just enough in me to keep my eyes on the screen. Their banter is a bit forced, but does become effective eventually.

Priyanka Chopra is pretty good, plenty of satisfactory action from her; that recap edit is amusingly done, to be fair. Jack Quaid's bit is fun, while Paddy Considine, Stephen Root and Carla Gugino are decent actors to compensate for otherwise quite lame characters.

If not for those named, I'd be rating this a lot lower. Still, there are some strong moments and cool shots in there, like the apartment staircase and the lost tooth moment. Annoyingly, there is a fair amount wrong too; for example, the special effects are absolutely not good.

All things considered, by the narrowest of margins, I did find this to be passable action fare. It really ought to have been better, though.

Heads of State( 2025)

Two heads are better than one.

Overview

Top Billed Cast

Social

A review by Manuel São Bento

Written by Manuel São Bento on Fri Jun 27 2025

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