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Heads of State movie review: John Cena-Idris Elba-Priyanka Chopra Jonas' action comedy is predictable but entertaining
Heads of State is a fun film which works because of its high entertainment quotient. read more
Star cast: John Cena, Idris Elba, Priyanka Chopra, Jack Quaid, Paddy Considine, Stephen Root, and Carla Gugino
Director: Ilya Naishuller
After impressing the audience with Hardcore Henry and Nobody, filmmaker and musician Ilya Viktorovich Naishuller is now gearing up to take cinegoers on an adrenaline rush with his upcoming action comedy Heads Of State. While the movie's promo looked fun, let's see whether it turns out to be an entertaining affair or not…
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Heads of State starts with a senior MI6 agent, Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and his team, along with the CIA, doing a covert operation at Bunol, Spain, during the Tomatino festival to hunt down Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine), an arms dealer turned extremist.
However, Viktor, along with his henchmen, who had set a trap for the officers, hunts them as his tech genius, Arthur Hammond (Stephen Root), infiltrates the echelon, the high-tech political secret system of the USA.
Cut to the actor-turned-American President Will Derringer (John Cena) and UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), who are not fond of each other, meeting at the Oval Office and taking potshots at one another.
Their assistants convince them to travel together to the NATO Summit, as it will make the biggest headlines in global newspapers. However, their aeroplane gets attacked by Viktor's henchmen, and while the plane crashes, the duo manages to survive. As Sam and Will need to reach the summit, they need to find the motive behind their assassination and the conspiracy which can impact the global system.
Well, honestly, Head of State reminds me of old-style Bollywood movies when it comes to plot, but scores high on the visual presentation, along with action choreography and crisp editing by Tom Harrison-Read.
Ilya has handled a generic plot quite well to make it entertaining with some eye-grabbing highlights and made sure people enjoy the onscreen camaraderie between the lead characters. However, the romantic angle between Idris and PeeCee seems to be forced or rather unnecessary, in the movie.
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Talking about the performances, John, Elba, and Priyanka seem to have fun with their parts with their witty dialogues and performing kickass action. Paddy, as Viktor, is decent but lacks the punch as the antagonist. Jack Quaid literally won the heart with his superb comic timing as Agent Comer.
On the whole, Heads of State is a fun film which works because of its high entertainment quotient.
Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)
Heads of State is releasing on 2nd July
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