Rating: C+
Dir: Ilya Naishuller
Star: Idris Elba, John Cena, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Paddy Considine
I could likely do a whole article on “Presidential Ass-kickers” from Air Force One through Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter to White House Down. And if one such national leader is good, then two must be twice as much fun, right? Well, actually… Yeah, it kinda is. This is just the kind of forgettably entertaining Amazon Prime movie I was looking for on a Saturday afternoon. It provides surprisingly decent action (or not so surprising, if you know Naishuller directed Nobody), and great chemistry between the two leads. Cena is the new US President, Will Derringer, a former action film-star, who is all homespun charm. Elba the UK Prime Minister, Sam Clarke, an ex-soldier mired in low approval ratings. Naturally, they hate each other.
In a bid to show mutual respect, they share a flight to a NATO conference on Air Force One. But it gets shot down over Belarus by Evil Russian Arms Dealer, Viktor Gradov (Considine). He is seeking to destroy NATO and thereby foment war by… [spins wheel of Evil Plans] hacking into the ECHELON spy system, and releasing every NATO country’s dirty little secrets. As an aside, it’s funny to see the heads of state denying the existence of ECHELON, when it’s been a real thing for decades. To save NATO, Clarke and Derringer have to make their own way to the conference, with the help of MI6 agent and Clarke’s old flame, Noel Bisset (Chopra Jonas), while Gradov’s henchmen try to stop them.
It’s all ludicrously dumb, and utterly implausible, considering the last US President was deemed unfit to stand for reelection, and replaced by someone aged 78. Derringer is clearly a nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who became Governor of California, but couldn’t become President because he wasn’t a natural-born citizen. Cena, of course, is a wrestler turned actor, adding another level of meta, and is parodying his own “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect” persona. Meanwhile, Elba is the straight guy, gruff to a fault, and equally implausible in the position of British Prime Minister, because he appears to be competent. You will not be at all surprised to hear, over the course of proceedings, they develop a mutual respect for each other as they battle Gradov.
Still, it’s amusing stuff between the clichés, aided by an unexpectedly tough-nosed role for Chopra Jonas. The actress cut her teeth for Amazon on their horrendously expensive, failed Bond pastiche, Citadel, so is clearly the company’s designated action heroine. Though guess even they couldn’t shoehorn the former Bollywood star into Rings of Power. However, it’s mostly the two guys getting all “buddy head of state” on each other, and I would be happy to vote for either of them. It does all end in a eyeroll-provoking lecture about how “We need to treat each other with respect, embrace each other’s differences and lean into our commonalities.” But it delivered just what I wanted, in the way of slick, smooth entertainment.