The UK Prime Minister (Idris Elba) and the US President (John Cena) are forced to work together when they survive an assassination attempt by an unknown adversary. But these Heads of State despise each other and bicker and argue through their odd couple action heroics.

Heads of State really epitomises the “straight to streaming” action movie genre that is so overstuffed right now. There is a semblance of a high concept idea, some charismatic actors, some serviceable action set pieces and an entirely mediocre movie that for some will be dire trash and others a fun Friday night diversion. You probably know already where you stand on that front but lets talk about the good and bad anyway!

The high concept plot has mixed results. US President Will Derringer is an ex-action movie actor and John Cena gets all the best laughs via clips from his film career and thinking he can do real life action because he did it on screen. UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke on the other hand served in the army and has a bee in his bonnet about how hard he worked to get where he is. Every time I see Idris Elba in a film I wonder what happened to the television actor who seemed so magnetic and vibrant. Meanwhile the plot that gets them into this mess bares very little thinking about and the banter and jibes between the pair is mostly terrible.

As for the action set pieces… The CGI is poor and I can only remember one sequence mere minutes after the film’s close and it features none of the stars. That stand out moment is a cameo from Jack Quaid and a needle drop featuring The Beastie Boys’ Sabotage. In fact it is the music needle drops that stand out the most with Total Eclipse of the Heart, Fools Rush In and Hang Me, Oh Hang Me all living in my memory than any other moments.

Heads of State is unquestionably a minnow in the world of mismatched odd couple action movies but some will still find themselves happy with the diversion. My recommendation if you want to watch the best in the genre is to seek out Midnight Run instead.