TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 of 2025 (No. 2022) by Leroy Douresseaux
G20 (2025)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPA – R for violence throughout
DIRECTOR: Patricia Riggen
WRITERS: Caitlin Parrish & Erica Weiss and Logan Miller & Noah Miller; from a story by Logan Miller & Noah Miller
PRODUCERS: Viola Davis, Andrew Lazar, and Julius Tennon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Checco Varese (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Doc Crotzer and Emma E. Hickox
COMPOSER: Joseph Trapanese
ACTION/THRILLER
Starring: Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramon Rodriguez, Marsai Martin, Christopher Farrar, Antony Starr, Douglas Hodge, Elizabeth Marvel, Sabrina Impacciatore, MeeWha Alana Lee, John Hoogenakker, Julius Tennon, Theo Bongani Ndyalvane, Noxolo Diamini, and Clark Gregg
SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:
-- I would call G20 a standard straight-to-streaming action movie, but Viola Davis makes this fast food hamburger almost seem like “USDA Prime Beef.”
-- G20 is hugely enjoyable, and it will keep you glued to your seats, dear readers, from beginning to end
--Yeah, I liked it enough to hope for a sequel
G20 is a 2025 action-thriller from director Patricia Riggen and starring Viola Davis, who is also one of the film's producers. The film is an Amazon “Prime Video Original” and debuted on the Prime Video streaming service, Thursday, April 10, 2025. In G20, the African-American female President of the United States battles a gang of white cryptocurrency terrorists after they take over the G20 summit she is hosting in South Africa.
G20 opens in Budapest, Hungary. There, former Australian Special Forces Corporal Edward Rutledge (Antony Starr) and his mercenaries are stalking a young woman. They are determined to acquire a $70 million cryptocurrency wallet in her possession.
Meanwhile, at the White House in Washington D.C., U.S. President Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis) is having some family melodrama. She may be President of the United States and an Army veteran of the Iraq War, but she is publicly embarrassed by the rebellious antics of her daughter, Serena (Marsai Martin), who has recently escaped from the White House without the Secret Service noticing.
President Sutton and her husband, the “First Gentleman” Derek (Anthony Anderson), decide that it is wisest to bring Serena and her brother, their son Demetrius (Christopher Farrar), with them to Capetown, South Africa for the G20 Summit of world leaders. However, waiting for them at the heavily fortified Grand Diamot hotel is Corporal Rutledge and his team of terrorists, ready to seize control of the summit and bring down the world economy as we know it. Soon, it will be up to President Sutton, Derek, Serena, Demetrius, and Special Agent Manny Ruiz (Ramon Rodriguez) to save themselves and the Summit's attendees and to stop Rutledge and his diabolical plot to burn down the world as we know it.
During the last year or so, I have seen a few star-studded, streaming original action movies, such as Prime Video's Role Play (2024) and Netflix's The Union (2024) and the recent Back in Action (2025). I have avoided most streaming action movies, but I have noticed something about the ones I have seen. They are a family and friends affair. Husbands and wives, children, and friends come together to stop the high-tech bad guys. In a way, they are like the 2004 kiddie action flick, Catch That Kid, which you probably don't remember starred a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart.
Anyway, G20 has lots of violent gun play, and I would dare to guess that more characters were killed in it than in most spy and espionage movies. That's because G20 is a kind of hybrid military-themed movie about terrorism, except that the lead is a Black female President of the United States. She is the star and she does the most killing, and while her Black husband and their two Black children also fight the bad guys, only she uses firearms and military-style weapons to kill the bad guys.
I found G20 thoroughly enjoyable, and I enjoyed watching Viola Davis' President Sutton kill the bad guys. She is one of the few actresses that could take President Sutton and make her both a solid dramatic character and a heavy weight action hero. I also like that the most of film's biggest heroes are black and brown people. Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramon Rodriguez, Marsai Martin, Christopher Farrar, Theo Bongani Ndyalvane and Noxolo Diamini show out for real. Douglas Hodge, Sabrina Impacciatore, and MeeWha Alana Lee also do the damn thing. Even Antony Starr deftly chews up the screen as the overheated villain, Corporal Rutledge.
Amazon MGM Studios, I want a sequel. I heartily recommend G20 for its pure entertainment value and for making a violent, R-rated action movie seem like family entertainment. This is one time that I can say that a direct-to-streaming action movie is as good as most of the flashy action movies that get theatrical releases. Best of all, G20 lets Viola David act like an O.G.
B+
7 of 10
★★★½ out of 4 stars
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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