A One Mann’s Movies review of “G20″ (2025).
“G20” has been out on Prime Video for a few months now, but I needed an “ironing film” and this was it!
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“G20” Plot:
President Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis) is attending the G20 summit of world leaders in South Africa, along with her family. She is trying to push through a divisive monetary policy that will benefit smaller African and Asian nations. But a group of mercenaries are aiming to take the party hostage in an effort to make billions in crypto-currency.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong violence, bloody images”.)
Talent:
Starring: Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramón Rodríguez, Marsai Martin, Antony Starr, Douglas Hodge,
Elizabeth Marvel, Christopher Farrar, Sabrina Impacciatore, MeeWha Alana Lee, John Hoogenakker.
Directed by: Patricia Riggen.
Written by: Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, Logan Miller & Noah Miller. (From a story by Logan Miller & Noah Miller.)
Running Time: 1h 48m.
“G20″ Summary:
Positives:
- Popcorn nonsense! But it’s fun to see Viola Davis in a kick-ass role dispatching bad guys.
- Some of the action scenes – one in a lift and one in a kitchen – are well done.
- There are a few moments of fun comedy.
Negatives:
- The plot is absurdly far-fetched.
- Overly po-faced and short on laughs.
- A finale scene on a rooftop with a helicopter is so over-the-top it could be a comedy film.
Review of “G20”:
Park your brain at the door Madam President.
This is a film strong on dumbness. We start with a completely inconsequential Bourne-style chase around a foreign city which, crypto-McGuffin-thing aside, seems to bear very little relation to any of the rest of the film. So I was already on the back foot before we ever got to the meat of the film.
We are then introduced to the first-family and specifically renegade teen Serena (Marsai Martin) who – would you believe it – turns out to be an electronics wizard. Who know… perhaps that might come in handy later in the film?
The meat-head terrorists, led by Rutledge (Antony Starr), are the usual mix of ex-military teamed with Presidential ‘insiders’ who are ultimately exposed and dealt with appropriately. Given the plot is basically a hotel-bound version of “Air Force One”, any villain is bound to be compared against Gary Oldman’s Russian bad-un and with Rutledge that comparison is a poor one.
Goldfinger and Die Hard revisited.
The plot is actually very similar to “Die Hard” in that these so-called terrorists are (in the words of the late, great Alan Rickman) “exceptional thieves”. In addition, there’s a 2020’s update of the plot of “Goldfinger”: the acquisition of a commodity that will skyrocket in value through the destruction of the stable worldwide currencies. These are not necessarily bad ideas, but it’s far from being original.
Viola Davis had fun.
As I’ve commented on in the past, there is no pigeon-holing Viola Davis. Here is an actor who can go from serious dramas like “Fences” to heist-related intrigue in “Widows” to musical extravaganza in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” to kick-ass action in “The Woman King“. Here, she is very much at the “Woman King” end of the spectrum. Her US President is an ex-army hero (tormented with self-doubt about being worthy of that title) who is proficient in hand-to-hand combat and able to handle her weapons with skill. It’s once again never very believable (particularly the flooring of a bad guy with an offhand backhand swipe!). But Davis manages to do it without ever cracking a smirk at the ridiculousness of it all, which is quite impressive. Action scenes in a lift and in a kitchen are both executed well.
Even with the unlikeliness of it all, this President still looks several hundred percent more competent and eloquent than the Tango tyrant.
Not enough humour.
In general, for a film of this type, the screenplay is rather short on laughs to balance some of the, sometimes quite brutal, violence. The British Prime Minister comes over as a bit of a comedic ass, played nicely by Douglas Hodge (the wonderful Velementov from “The Great”!). But there’s very little in the way of smiles let alone laughs. That is apart from one neat moment when a black South African SAS operative lays out a bad guy and the President’s son, Demetrius (Christopher Farrar), exclaims “Holy Shit, you’re from Wakanda”! Good line.
Ludicrous finale.
As if testing your patience, the film ends with a ludicrous moment: ‘I’m mortally wounded…’ – a knife to the back of the neck – ‘…but I’m still able to drag myself up from my pool of blood, kidnap the daughter, and make it upstairs to the helicopter pad’. The helicopter scene itself is one of those absurd movie moments that makes you cringe rather than thrill. Dire.
Summary Thoughts on “G20″
I mean, if you were drunk enough or bored enough, this might vaguely entertain you. But it’s really just another President/terrorist knock-off that is barely worth your time. Just watch “Air Force One” again instead!
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “G20″:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhQcpvKHis4.
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