From Heads of State to White House Down: Top 10 films that sees presidents in action mode

Top films that portrays US President in action

Amazon Prime Video’s Heads of State was recently released on the streaming platform with positive reviews. In the film, John Cena portrays President Will Derringer, a former action-film star who teams up with Idris Elba’s British Prime Minister Sam Clarke after surviving a dual assassination attempt.

However, this is not the first time Hollywood has reimagined the Commander in Chief as more than just a policymaker or figurehead, transforming the heads of state into full-blown action heroes. Take a look at some of the movies and series featuring unforgettable big-screen presidents who occasionally take on action to save the world.

Air Force One (1997)

Veteran actor Harrison Ford portrays President James Marshall, who pulls off a variety of heroic acts in Wolfgang Petersen’s second beloved summer action thriller centred on the presidency.

In the film, a group of Russian nationalists led by Gary Oldman hijack Air Force One soon after the president Marshall delivered an unscripted, game-changing foreign policy speech in Moscow. However, he then pretends to flee from the scene using the extensively modified 747’s purportedly fictional escape pod.

In reality, the president secretly remains onboard, determined not to abandon the First Lady or First Daughter, even if duty might suggest otherwise.

He re-establishes contact with the White House and orders fighter jets to target his own plane and dumps fuel in a bold attempt to force the hijackers to land. Along the way, he gets involved in an intense gunfight and brutal hand-to-hand combat with the hijackers.

Independence Day (1996)

Bill Pullman plays a fighter jockey veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, Thomas Whitmore, who was elected president. In the film, the president, a geek, a pilot and a group of ragtag survivors unite to save mankind after an alien race destroys major cities of the world with their advanced weaponry.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

Benjamin Walker plays the role of the 16th president of the US, Abraham Lincoln. In the film, Abraham Lincoln witnessed his mother’s murder when he was just a boy. He spends most of his adolescence preparing to avenge his mother. He later discovered that his mother had been killed by a vampire. Years later, he became the president of the USA and made it his mission to wipe out the bloodsuckers.

White House Down (2013)

The film was released just five months into President Barack Obama’s second term and features Jamie Foxx as a bookish, clearly Obama-inspired President of the United States. Channing Tatum portrays a Capitol Police officer who’s interviewing for a Secret Service position when the bad guys attack.

The film revolves around John Cale, a Capitol policeman, who gets rejected for a Secret Service job. When he takes his daughter on a tour of the White House, things go south, and the president's life is jeopardised.

G20 (2025)

Viola Davis portrays Danielle Sutton in this action thriller. The film revolves around a terrorist attack during the G20 summit in South Africa, which forces US President Danielle Sutton to take decisive action to safeguard both her family and the other attendees. However, Davis and British Prime Minister Douglas Hodge teamed up and sneaked around and tried to save their citizens.

Big Game (2014)

Samuel L. Jackson plays President William Alan Moore crashed in the rugged Finnish countryside and met a 13-year-old boy, who went for his first solo deer hunt equipped with only a bow and arrow. He helps the President of the United States when Air Force One is shot down near his campsite.

Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)

President Thomas ‘Tug’ Benson has been wounded in countless wars but never gives the same backstory twice. But people have witnessed him leading an amphibious commando mission to rescue POWs during Operation Desert Storm, followed by an outrageous lightsaber duel with Saddam Hussein.

Lloyd Bridges portrays President Thomas, a war hero, in the film, who becomes a monk after retiring from the United States Navy. However, the CIA sends him on a mission to Iraq to save the last rescue team and the hostages held captive by the Iraqis.

Heads of State

John Cena portrays naive, inexperienced and shallow President William M. Derringer, who strives to be worthy of the office to which he’s been elected. The film features a rivalry between the US President William and British Prime Minister Sam Clarke. In a surprising twist, they are forced to work together after Air Force One gets shot down over enemy territory.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Aaron Eckhart plays President Benjamin Asher, who isn’t as hands-on in fighting back as the president in that film. However, he does start strong, sparring at Camp David with his top Secret Service agent, played by Gerard Butler.

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The film follows a group of North Koreans seeking to reunify the Korean Peninsula who storm the White House, holding the US president hostage in a bunker.

Escape From New York (1981)

In this cult classic from John Carpenter, Donald Pleasence plays the President of what looks like a harsh, possibly fascist version of the U.S. at war with the Soviet Union around 1997.

In the film, the president was held hostage after escaping a hijacked Air Force One using a possibly fictional escape pod. However, he is seen in action at the end as he grabs a machine gun and takes down Isaac Hayes’s character, The Duke, who rules over Manhattan, now a giant prison. He saves the life of Snake Plissken, a former soldier-turned-prisoner sent to rescue him in exchange for his freedom.