Viola Davis plays the President of the United States Danielle “Danny” Sutton who is proposing an audacious plan to end world hunger at the G20 Summit, which meets at least annually and is being held in South Africa. Unfortunately, her teenage daughter, Sarena (Marsai Martin), undermines her plan when she sneaks out without her Secret Service security detail. If POTUS cannot keep her child safe, how can she save the world? By being a complete badass! If we’re lucky, “G20” could be the start of a whole new action franchise.
Anyone who saw “The Woman King” (2022) knows that Davis is not just one of the best actors on the stage, big and silver screen, but she is also a goddamn action star. Versatility is her middle name. If you want to see “G20,” it is probably because you want to see Davis look good while taking out a team of armed men, and the movie delivers. A lot of movies punk out and only have the woman protagonist fight another woman, but not here. Every man is huge, armed and killed a woman at the outset so no punches will be pulled. The only quibble will be whether the red evening gown that she wears in the film is the same shade as the one worn in the poster, but the film makes up for it when she pulls a Xena and makes on the spot wardrobe modifications once the bullets start to fly.
Danny is a Commander in Chief in more than title, which means that couch potatoes get another chance to relive “Air Force One” (1997) on a grander, “Die Hard” scale, which is what “Captain America: Brave New World” (2025) was supposed to give moviegoers but fell short. It has been two decades since Danny was in combat, so the movie wisely gives her time to ramp up before she is single-handedly taking down teams of men. “G20” wisely frames Danny as the real-life Captain America, and just like the Marvel hero, she gets a Hispanic/Latino ride-or-die right hand man, Secret Service Agent Manny Ruiz (Ramon Rodriguez), who spars with her on calmer days and has her back once the bad guys start taking people out. He makes a good partner who is determined to keep his President safe, but needs her grit, strategy and tenaciousness to survive and save everyone.
The other world leaders do not get a lot of shine, which is fine. It is a similar scenario to “Cleaner” (2025) except there is something old and something new. The British Prime Minister Oliver Everett (Douglas Hodge) has his nose in the air at the idea that some American will try to teach him about policy but is completely out of his element and needs saving once the hostage situation starts. The best new development is South Korean leaders standing up to armed assailants and being as clever as POTUS. Fun fact: South Korean men are required to serve in the military so when President Young-Ho Lee (Joseph Steven Yang) resists, it makes sense, but his secret weapon, his wife, Min-Sero Han (MeeWha Alana Lee), is a delight and teaches POTUS a thing or two. Always bet on an ajumma, especially in a hanbok! South Korea was not always about romance and hot guys! Those older ladies have seen things! “G20” would have been even better if she had more screentime or even a sidequel.
Coming in silvery second is the South African ops, Melokuhle (Theo Bongani Nyalvane) and Lesedi (Noxolo Diamini), embedded as a security back up who get a much-deserved Wakanda shout out and also needed more of the spotlight. The bronze goes to IMF head Elena Romano (Sabrina Impacciatore), who gets heavy-handed dialogue about heels to symbolize how even powerful women are expected to heed useless gender norms to not become vulnerable to imposter syndrome. Though clunky, speaking as a woman who, even when ordered, refused to wear heels and keeps sneakers on regardless of the event for my health, this plotline is a true story.
The domestic side is where “G20” is a little uneven. Anthony Anderson plays the First Gentlemen Derek Sutton. Could not Davis get a better onscreen partner—someone with fewer off-screen allegations of misconduct and who is on the same acting level as Davis? Anderson must have a great agent and/or be a joy to work with because he always has a job even though he has been playing the same man regardless of the role or genre. Fans of “Black-ish” may feel more deja vu because they have a nerdy, awkward, unpopular, older son Demetrius (Christopher Farrar), and Martin played the younger daughter in the television series. Farrar is mostly forgettable, but Martin has been in the biz called show since she was five years old, so she holds her own with Davis in a poignant story arc where she gradually realizes how impressive her annoying, overprotective mother is, and Danny acknowledges her daughter’s gifts.
The villains almost do not matter. They are bad guys who use all the technology that people are suspicious of: AI, deep fakes and cryptocurrency. Add in a global private security company filled with accented men. I don’t know anything of substance about any of those three elements but is not the point of the latter that it cannot be stolen in the real world, yet a crypto wallet plays a pivotal role. “G20” gets completely unrealistic when it shows how easy it is to manipulate the global economy because that could never happen twice in one week. My fave mercenary is the random German trying to sweet talk the kids out of hiding. He tried something different. It did not work, but it was memorable. Anthony Starr, who is best known for playing Homelander, plays the Big Bad Colonel Edward “Eddie” Rutledge so it is not a surprise because he is good at playing a homicidal maniac in “The Boys.” While the storyline is too squishy to make his backstory convincing, he makes it work. He has a decade and 6 inches advantage on Davis so when they go toe to toe, he seems even more menacing. and the stakes seem credibly high. It is not just a given that Danny will win.
There are a couple of notable actors playing bureaucrats, but once the first explosive gets detonated, they are mostly forgotten. Treasury Secretary Joanna Worth (Elizabeth Marvel) is Danny’s bestie/frenemy who feels like a footnote or cherry on top depending on how you feel about her story arc. I’m indifferent. Clark Gregg, who is best known for playing Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plays Vice President Harold Moseley. If you think that Gregg’s vast experience playing a bureaucratic action hero would be utilized here, you would be mistaken. He is the equivalent of Morgan Freeman in those Gerald Butler films that have “Has Fallen” in the title without being Freeman on screen. Hell, Freeman is not even Freeman in his off hours so no hate, just an impossible standard to live up to.
Movies should get graded on a curve. “G20” knows what it is: an action movie first and a statement about the state of the world second. It gets more right than wrong because it is the perfect time to have a Black woman, Purple Heart decorated, Army veteran, Iraqi War hero take out a bunch of Russians and Suidlanders, a right-wing Afrikaner white supremacist group, with an Australian mouthpiece at its head spouting lies in the media for financial personal gain. Um, did Prime Video let their boss know that they greenlit this project because if Presidon’t hears about it, he is not going to like it, and their head is not going to get invited to the next Dark Enlightenment tech bro cookout? A house divided. Please note that it was shot long before Vice President Kamala Harris entered the Presidential Race, and it is union friendly because despite having permission to keep shooting, Davis halted production until the strike ended.
On the other hand, “G20” does wrestle with the survivor guilt of being a war hero but not feeling like it because the reality of serving in a war zone is very different than the image, a message that “Warfare” tries to convey, but may fail at because the spectacle is so overwhelming. For history buffs, comparing Danny to Churchill is one of those moments that is supposed to validate her reputation unless you know about more than Churchill’s performance in World War II then you may think, “Yikes.”
Director Patricia Riggen does a serviceable job. It is unfortunate that you will need to rewind some scenes to appreciate the fight choreography because pivotal commencement moves get lost in the edit transitions, but the through line holds up under scrutiny. The lobby, lights off, fire fight scene is the best and feels like a video game come to life with Davis injecting sobering emotion to reflect the impact on her psyche. Even though the film is supposed to feel like a whirlwind international thriller, it feels very glossy, made for television, but it was shot on location in Budapest, Hungary and Cape Town, South Africa, not a soundstage.
Why head to the theaters when “G20” (2025) is streaming on Prime! “G20” is more fun than “The Amateur” (2025), more cohesive than “A Minecraft Movie” (2025), better shot than “A Working Man” (2025) and pulls less punches than “Captain America: Brave New World” (2025). “Novocaine” (2025) could beat it if that film knew when to wrap things up and had embraced the protagonist’s emerging ruthlessness. Since “Warfare” (2025) is based on a true story with real lives in the balance, it should not belong in the same category as the other mindless, cathartic action films, but it is the only one that would win in a standoff. Davis’ latest flick is just guilt-free fun.
