Film Review – G20

April 11th, 2025 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

G20 (2025) attempts to do two things simultaneously. On one end, it’s a throwback actioner in the same vein as Air Force One (1997), Die Hard (1988), and The Rock (1996). You’ll see several familiar rhythms, plot points, and set pieces transcribed here. On the other end is an attempt to tie the narrative to current real-world issues, including (but not limited to) an unstable global economy, artificial intelligence, crypto-currency, and digital warfare. It’s a safe bet to say that filming took place long before this current presidential administration. However, the parallels between this and the situation we are living through right now are hard to ignore. That said, I’m not sure the action and political elements blend successfully. There’s an imbalance between both sides that the film never recovers from.

The biggest problem facing G20 is what it wants to accomplish. Is this an action film meant to provide two hours of fun entertainment, or is it a comment on our political landscape? The hand-to-hand combat, shoot outs, and climactic showdowns incorporate plenty of tension. Yet, every so often things will come to a halt as the narrative blatantly wears its commentary on its sleeve. The action films of the 1980s and 1990s were very much influenced by the social and political concerns of the era (with The Cold War playing a major factor). That approach doesn’t work as well here. The topics and themes are shoehorned into the dialogue, making whatever message it wants to convey clunky and awkward. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problems with movies having something to say about politics or taking a moral stance (one of the issues that plagued Captain America: Brave New World (2025) was its lack of such perspectives) but the production did not do a good enough job in this instance. Director Patricia Riggen (with screenwriters Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, and Logan Miller) try to spin multiple plates to varying levels of success. We meet U.S. President Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis) who, to help stave off world hunger, arranges a G20 summit with world leaders in South Africa. She brings along her husband Derek (Anthony Anderson), son Demetrius (Christopher Farrar) and daughter Serena (Marsai Martin). Serena – a precocious teen – has caused a bit of a stir with her late-night outings, which unfortunately invites negative press towards the president.

All the tension between mother and daughter gets swept aside when a group of terrorists – led by the villainous Rutledge (Antony Starr) – ambush the summit and hold the world leaders hostage. Their plan: force the citizens of the world to withdraw their money to cause a global banking crisis, thus raising the value of crypto-currency and making them very very wealthy. Part of this plan involves forcing their captives to recite a specific bit of dialogue. The voice recordings can then be manipulated by A.I. to make it seem like they are saying anything the terrorists want them to say. This, as you can probably tell, is ridiculous. Whatever happened to bad guys simply wanting to rob a vault full of money or gold? While I can understand how their scheme is reflective of the real world, how it plays out on screen is less than convincing. Having Rutledge spout out diatribes about the world leaders being the “real criminals” or “insurgents” sounds like the ravings of an unhinged person. Maybe that’s the point, but if the narrative was trying to provide some commentary or satire, why have it come from a deadly extremist? 

What Rutledge and his goons didn’t account for was the resourcefulness of Sutton and her cohorts. Sutton, along with Secret Service Agent Manny Ruiz (Ramón Rodríguez), the British Prime Minister (Douglas Hodge), the wife of the South Korean President (MeeWha Alana Lee), and an Italian representative (Sabrina Impacciatore), escape capture and weave their way through the summit compound, attempting to alert their respective governments and save the hostages. To make matters more complicated, both Serena (who has a knack for hacking in and out of computer systems) and Demetrius have also fled and are somewhere on the premises. This is where things pick up, as character motivations are boiled down to single-minded goals: Get from here to there, avoid detection, stop the enemy, avoid global catastrophe, etc. All the muddiness involving political intrigue are sidestepped by the more action-centric elements. 

Thankfully, the production does a fine job in staging the action. The camerawork and editing incorporate the usual shaky frame and hyperkinetic cutting during combat, but it isn’t so egregious to obscure the choreography. There are several memorable set pieces. One fight scene taking place inside of an elevator stands out for its sense of claustrophobia. A high-speed chase outside the compound, with a vehicle swerving to avoid missiles from a bazooka operate as the big, splashy sequence. As she has proven in The Woman King (2022), Viola Davis more than meets the requirements of an action hero. Her skills both dramatically and physically makes President Sutton a commanding and compelling presence. She can take on adversaries with lethal precision yet deliver lines that allow us to understand her character’s thoughts and feelings. G20 has the benefit of not only having well-constructed action, but it also features one of our finest actors in the middle of the melee.

When it comes to surface level kinetic energy, I liked a lot of what G20 had to offer. Fans of ‘80s and 90s action films will notice plenty of familiar tropes and character traits. In terms of its political and social commentary, the film doesn’t work quite as well. I’m all for movies that can entertain while also having us think and debate its themes. But this time, the two mixed like water and oil. I still enjoyed the experience overall and am giving it a recommendation. But if a genre flick such as this has something to say, it must do a better job of saying it.

Anthony Anderson, Antony Starr, Caitlin Parrish, Captain America: Brave New World, Christopher Farrar, Die Hard, Douglas Hodge, Erica Weiss, G20, Logan Miller, Marsai Martin, MeeWha Alana Lee, Patricia Riggen, Ramón Rodríguez, Sabrina Impacciatore, The Rock, The Woman King, Viola Davis