Heads of State (2025)
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2025-09 to 2026-08
A British Prime Minister and the President of the United States must overcome their personal differences to survive a conspiracy involving a dangerous Russian arms dealer.
The story
When a joint team of intelligence agents is ambushed while chasing a Russian arms dealer, a critical link to a global surveillance program is compromised. Shortly after, the British Prime Minister, Sam Clarke, and the newly elected U.S. President, Will Derringer, find themselves at odds during a public press conference. To project a united front, they are forced to travel together on Air Force One to a NATO summit. However, the flight is intercepted, and the two leaders are forced to navigate a dangerous landscape of betrayal and conspiracy to protect their nations and the stability of the international alliance.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After Air Force One is shot down, Prime Minister Sam Clarke and President Will Derringer are stranded in Belarus and presumed dead. They eventually team up with MI6 agent Noel Bisset to navigate a conspiracy involving a Russian arms dealer, Viktor Gradov, who has compromised the ECHELON surveillance system. As they travel toward a NATO summit in Italy, they discover that a high-ranking official has betrayed them. Amidst a series of attacks from assassins, the leaders must navigate a web of lies involving a hacker named Arthur Hammond and a traitorous Vice President, Elizabeth Kirk. In the final confrontation in Trieste, the leaders are reunited and successfully stop the dissolution of NATO. The film ends with the two leaders becoming close friends, while it is revealed that agent Marty Comer survived a previous attack.
- First release year
- 2025
- Runtime (minutes)
- 113
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Ilya Naishuller
- Writers
- Josh Appelbaum · screenplay; André Nemec · screenplay; Harrison Query · screenplay; Harrison Query · story
- Cast and characters
- Idris Elba · Sam Clarke; John Cena · Will Derringer; Priyanka Chopra · Noel Bisset; Jack Quaid · Marty Comer; Paddy Considine · Viktor Gradov; Stephen Root · Arthur Hammond; Carla Gugino · Elizabeth Kirk
- Genres
- action; comedy
- Themes
- political cooperation; betrayal; international espionage
- Tone and mood
- action; comedy
- Setting
- Various international locations including Spain, Belarus, Poland, Italy, and Croatia.
- Premise and plot tags
- buddy comedy; political thriller
- Reception
- The film received mixed or average reviews from critics.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 57 · scale: 100 · review count: 19
- Production trivia
- The film features Idris Elba and John Cena, who previously co-starred in The Suicide Squad.; The production budget was $189.7 million, with a net budget of $154.8 million after tax incentives.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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