G20 (2025) is not just a misfire, it’s a symptom of a larger streaming trend: high-concept projects stretched thin by weak scripts, formulaic direction, and over-reliance on big names to carry the weight. Viola Davis has led action movies far superior to G20.
‘G20’ Movie Review
G20 is the kind of film that feels like it was reverse-engineered by an algorithm trying to capitalize on every trending topic of the last five years. AI deepfakes? Check. Cryptocurrency? Check. Global diplomacy in crisis? Check. Viola Davis in the Oval Office? Check—and yet, none of it sticks. Despite a compelling lead and a few intriguing ideas, G20 fumbles nearly every opportunity to elevate itself beyond the bloated, half-baked action-thriller template that’s become the hallmark of straight-to-streaming fare.
Davis plays President Danielle Sutton, a newly elected Commander-in-Chief and decorated military veteran, who is—presumably—the first Black woman to hold the office in this slightly alternate reality. Whether intentional or not, it’s impossible to watch G20 without thinking of the real-life 2024 U.S. Presidential Election and Kamala Harris’ failed bid against Donald Trump. The timing of the film’s release makes its fictional premise oddly resonant, even if the execution lacks the depth to really land those parallels.
The central plot is as convoluted as it is current. Antony Starr plays Edward Rutledge, an Australian ex-Special Forces operative turned mercenary who hijacks the G20 Summit in South Africa. His goal? Force world leaders to record scripted confessions using deepfake tech to trigger global economic panic and inflate the value of stolen cryptocurrency assets. If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is. And yet, G20 barrels forward with a straight face, never once pausing to acknowledge how thinly held together its world-saving stakes are.
Viola Davis (Air, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) does what she can, grounding Sutton with gravitas and resolve, and Starr leans hard into villainy with his signature smug menace. Anthony Anderson also shows up in a more grounded role as Sutton’s husband Derek, while Marsai Martin plays her rebellious teenage daughter Serena. These familial subplots—complete with underage drinking scandals and Oval Office arguments—aim to humanize Sutton but only slow down the pacing further in a movie already struggling to find momentum.
The biggest letdown is the action, which is oddly sparse and surprisingly limp. For a film pitched as a geopolitical hostage thriller, G20 spends far too much time on expositional cabinet meetings and recap-heavy dialogue. It’s a film made to be half-watched while scrolling your phone—every important detail is repeated minutes later, just in case you missed it. And when the action does arrive, it’s either incoherent or too brief to leave any lasting impact. Characters get shot, collapse dramatically, then show up fine in the next scene with barely a limp.
Streaming services like Apple TV+ (The Gorge), Netflix (Back in Action, The Electric State), and now Prime Video with G20, keep trying to manufacture blockbuster thrillers for the living room—but nobody seems to have cracked the formula. G20 is all concept, no cohesion. It’s a film that wants to say something about power, leadership, and global instability in the age of digital warfare, but it’s too busy rushing from scene to scene to make any of it stick.
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Viola Davis has led far superior action films—Widows and Blackhat come to mind immediately—and her talent is entirely wasted here. G20 is not just a misfire, it’s a symptom of a larger streaming trend: high-concept projects stretched thin by weak scripts, formulaic direction, and over-reliance on big names to carry the weight. This one’s a dud.
Score: 4/10
G20 (2025)
- Cast: Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramón Rodríguez, Marsai Martin, Antony Starr, Douglas Hodge, Elizabeth Marvel, Christopher Farrar
- Director: Patricia Riggen
- Genre: Action, Drama
- Runtime: 109 minutes
- Rated: R
- Release Date: April 10, 2025
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