G20 review: Viola Davis action thriller is far from a good movie

As the title suggests, the story is set around a G20 summit, as world leaders come together in a swish hotel in South Africa to debate hot-button issues.

America’s president Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis) is joined by her husband Derek (Anthony Anderson) and her two kids, Demetrius (Christopher Farrar) and his older sister Serena (Marsai Martin), who is at loggerheads with her mother. "My daughter hates me," bemoans Danielle, after Secret Service officials apprehend the teen in a bar and the footage of the incident goes viral.

Of course, Danielle Sutton is no self-serving Donald Trump-like figure. "I won’t let this be another summit that’s all talk," she says, but all that good intention is parked the moment a terrorist cell infiltrates the G20 (yes, it’s an inside job).

Leading this coup is Edward Rutledge (Antony Starr), a man seemingly determined to expose the hypocrisy of politicians, with the help of cunning deepfake AI technology, when in fact his greedy plot revolves around destabilising the global markets with crypto-currency.

Even with just this brief outline, you can probably see where G20 is going. The film plays out like action classic Die Hard, with Davis’s character the John McClane figure as she manages to evade the terrorists, along with the British PM (Douglas Hodge, giving us a Boris Johnson-like buffoon) and a few others.

The twist here is that Danielle was a former solider, a war hero who featured on the cover of Time magazine after saving a child in Fallujah. In other words: she can handle a gun.

Soon enough, Danielle is ripping up her red dress and swapping heels for trainers as she looks to outwit the baddies. With madam president’s husband and kids also on the loose (yes, they get involved too), Rutledge and his gang get more than they bargained for.

As their plan begins to unravel, New Zealand-born Starr, best known for his turn in The Boys, just about skates past caricature, but you can’t ultimately shake the feeling that he’s like a low-rent Alan Rickman, whose Die Hard character remains the gold-standard of money-grabbing villains.

Read more:

• A Minecraft Movie review: Strikes a neat balance for aficionados and newbies
• Holland review: Nicole Kidman can't save this exasperating, wayward thriller

Viola Davis is no stranger to action, thanks to her stupendous turn in 2022’s The Woman King, and she handles such scenes confidently here. To borrow from Serena: "She’s kind of a badass."

To be fair to G20, and director Patricia Riggen (The 33), it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There’s one very funny moment when Demetrius encounters a couple of security members embedded in the hotel’s waiting staff. After witnessing them pull off some impressive action moves, he mutters: "Holy s**t, you from Wakanda?" Seems like just about everyone has seen Black Panther.

Talking of Marvel, Clark Gregg (aka Agents of Shield’s Coulson) turns up as the vice president and the ever-excellent Elizabeth Marvel swaps the presidency she occupied in Homeland for treasury secretary here.

But despite the classy cast, this Prime Video streamer is as undemanding as they come. It’s not offensive, it passes the time and it may even stop you thinking about the world’s terrible political situation. But this is far from being a good movie.

G20 is streaming on Prime Video from Thursday 10th April 2025.

If you're looking for something to watch tonight, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Film hub for all the latest news. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.