Released on Prime Video, G20 feels like a glossy B-movie, the kind you’d expect Amazon to pay you to watch, not the other way around, as reported by international media.
According to a report by Indian Express on Saturday, Viola Davis stars as U.S. President Danielle Sutton, an Iraq War veteran whose fame stems from a photo of her rescuing a baby from a bombing site. The film skips the in-between but suggests she became a media darling, bought into her own legend, and rode the wave to the Oval Office.
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Given America’s history of electing celebrities, her rise feels all too familiar, think Reagan or Trump. We’re introduced to Danielle while she’s scolding her teenage daughter for ditching the Secret Service and partying at a bar.
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As punishment, she insists both her kids join her and their father (played by Anthony Anderson) at the G20 summit in South Africa. Her mission? To convince global leaders to back her bold plan to end world hunger. She’s already bracing for pushback from the British PM, but soon, a much bigger crisis erupts.
Shortly after the summit begins, a group of masked attackers storms in and takes the world’s most powerful people hostage. Their leader, Rutledge (Anthony Starr, channeling his The Boys intensity), claims to be fighting corruption and urges people to ditch fiat money for crypto.
But his real motive is greed, not justice. After a brief shootout, Danielle escapes with her bodyguard and heads for the basement, where their getaway car awaits. Meanwhile, Rutledge manipulates the situation by releasing deepfake videos of leaders promoting crypto and captures Danielle’s family, tossing them in with the rest of the hostages.
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Now, she must retrace her steps to save them. G20 attempts to stay relevant, touching on themes like AI and economic collapse, but at its core, it’s more of a throwback to the action-packed, over-the-top spirit of a Sunny Deol film.
The review states that it evokes memories of Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down, two nearly identical action flicks from over a decade ago. Much like those, G20 doesn’t commit to any sharp political commentary.
Its villain, Rutledge, is Australian, but his nationality is irrelevant. His henchmen sound South African, perhaps suggesting budget-conscious local hiring. Notably, all the villains are white, while the heroes are people of color, a visual contrast that the movie never explores. Overall, the film is described as a low-rated thriller in the review.
