One of the interesting aspects of the drama remains the characterization of its two leads – when you are first introduced to the duo of Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) and Will Derringer (John Cena), the NATO Alliance setting itself plays a third wheel in their dynamic. Sam is understated and diplomatic as the UK Prime Minister, often discreetly frowning at the presence and popularity of Will, a former action star turned US President who still believes that his life is a big budget action movie. In another world, Will and Sam would easily transition to Tiger and Pathaan with a movie of their own, Tiger Versus Pathaan. But because this remains a buddy action comedy, the latter that makes way for some of the fun banters between characters, their synergy after a point remains similar to Jai and Veeru from Sholay (1975), often at loggerheads with each other but soaked in a (forced) mutual respect that soon transitions into friendship.

The broad strokes of the story remains for the duo – each representing countries that have traditionally not been on the same page just like them individually, to keep the NATO alliance intact against a mafia that will stop at nothing to create chaos in the world. It is almost like A Squid Game within a Squid Game wherein the duo are forced to stick together after a planned ambuish of the Air Force One which was scheduled to take them to their destination, together. The idea of a buddy actioner often revolves around the dynamics and synergy of the duo in order to create moments along the way – a daring escape from the sky, a momentary brawl on a foreign land, a goofy special agent involved in a goofy face-off, and a cat and mouse chase that sees the duo cross countries in a jiffy!

One of the demerits of the writing remains on how conveniently things fall in place for the protagonists. If their transport from one part of the country to another is generally obstacle free and transitioned between a few reels (remember, they are still high-profile personalities in the geo-political setup), the momentary portions of danger are negated in the form of the re-introduction of the third wheel in the narrative, Noel (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) who appears at the exact same time and same moment to save the day from the brink of defeat. And that was the mother of all coincidences, just like all commercial films like to call it – ‘Creative Liberty’. Thankfully, the humour here remains self-deprecating and mostly self-aware that efficiently binds the narrative with clever bouts of comedy.

The template of the narrative is eerily similar to any of the films from the Mission Impossible franchise, but one big difference between the two remains the choice of action sequence. While one is exhilarating and immersive, the other remains mildly fun but flat, almost designed to go from point A to point B without accounting for the ‘high’ as a byproduct. It is almost trashy how characters drive through the streets even as some of the action takes place inside a moving vehicle, a sequence similar to Dead Reckoning (2023), but you can blindly tell the difference in the choreographies. The sheer predictability of key moments in the narrative is something that curbs the growth of the drama here, even as a couple of pretty basic revelations followed by a final showdown completes the narrative. In a way, the buddy comedy angle works well but the action feels artificial, making this screenplay, a decent popcorn entertainer that will be forgotten after being watched once.