They're not names you'd immediately think of as a double act. But Idris Elba and John Cena got on so well on the set of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad (2021) that they decided they wanted to work together again. It was just a matter of finding the right script to show off their chemistry — the deadpan Elba versus the goofy Cena — and it didn’t take too long.
The result is Heads Of State, which has landed on Prime Video today (Wednesday, July 2), and it has the makings of the start of a longer-running partnership.
They play the leaders of two of the world’s most powerful nations. UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Elba) is old-school, wanting to deliver results for his country instead of trying to win its affection, while super-friendly US President Will Derringer (Cena), is still in the honeymoon period of his tenure and adored by voters.
It's nothing to do with politics: as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, he spent years keeping them entertained. With a joint initiative on the horizon, they’re smiling for the cameras, but the truth rears its ugly head at a press conference, when it becomes patently obvious they can’t stand the sight of each other.
Putting their animosity aside, they agree to fly on Air Force One together, but are shot down by enemy troops and presumed dead. On the run, and trying to figure out who was behind the attempted assassination, they find help in the shape of MI6 agent Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra-Jones), who’s rather useful when it comes to dodging bullets, kicking ass — and dealing with the two leaders having their own asses kicked in the process.
Bloodsport and Peacemaker they aren’t, but the banter that made Elba and Cena so watchable and produced most of the laughs in The Suicide Squad is still very much intact, alongside the bromance that made them even more appealing both then and now. With a plot that, even on paper, is silly to the point of ridiculous, it’s clear that Heads Of State is a vehicle designed for their particular style of double act and, based on the way they make the film their own, they could easily be carving out a niche for themselves as the action-packed buddies of the 2020s.
Cena, of course, has become something of a regular in Amazon comedies. Last year saw him partnering Awkwafina in Paul Feig’s Jackpot! and then playing alongside Zac Efron in Ricky Stanicky. Both films received fair to middling receptions but just about every review for Stanicky, a film about a group of men who create an imaginary friend as an excuse to get out of things they don’t want to do, mentioned Cena’s full-throttle performance as the film’s biggest selling point. He was a total scene stealer.
Amazon also dipped their toe in buddy waters last year with Brothers, a comedy road trip that paired Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage as mismatched twins. Trying his utmost to go straight after time in jail, Brolin finds himself reluctantly pulled back into Dinklage’s life of crime to pull off what could be their biggest job ever. It was another instance of the two leads carrying the film on their shoulders, helped by the fact that the pair could feasibly be brothers. Their laid-back on-screen chemistry was a definite bonus and Dinklage, especially, displayed a talent for irresistible mischief.
But the film’s habit of leaning too heavily on Twins (1988), which paired Arnie Schwarzenegger and Danny De Vito, was its biggest own goal and there was barely a whiff of a Brolin/Dinklage reunion on the cards.
Yet buddy comedies, especially of the action variety, were at their peak in the 1980s and early 1990s. It started in explosive style with 48 Hours (1982), which saw Nick Nolte as a hard-boiled cop forced to work with Eddie Murphy’s wise-cracking criminal on parole to help him track down a killer. It’s still regarded as the ultimate buddy action movie, but had run out of steam by the time the sequel arrived in 1990 and one of the most memorable action comedy pairings of all time had already replaced it. In Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon (1987), Mel Gibson’s suicidal Riggs and Danny Glover’s rule-driven Murtaugh, were a match loved so much by critics and audiences alike that they spawned a franchise of their own that lasted for another three films.
Buddy comedies were never quite the same again.
If Elba and Cena are aiming to be the action comedy buddies for the 2020s, they’ll need to keep their eyes on another double act. We knew what to expect from Deadpool And Wolverine (2024) when it was released, courtesy of previous MCU movies and the ongoing social media banter between Reynolds and Jackman.
While many saw the film as a big-budget piece of fan service, it still scored 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the chemistry between the two actors was undeniable.
Rumors are still swirling about a possible sequel but, with no sign of an announcement at the moment, it leaves the door open for another pairing to fill the void. Elba and Cena, anybody?
Heads Of State is available on Prime Video in the US and the UK. The Suicide Squad is on Prime Video in the US and the UK.
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