Film Review: G20 (2025): Viola Davis Soars in an Intriguing Action Picture with a Lot of Fierce Intensity

G20 Review

G20 (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Patricia Riggen, written by Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss and Logan Miller and starring Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramon Rodriguez, Marsai Martin, Antony Starr, Douglas Hodge, Elizabeth Marvel, Christopher Farrar, Sabrina Impacciatore, MeeWha Alana Lee, John Hoogenakker, Conrad Kemp, Joseph Steven Yang, Clark Gregg, Julius Tennon and Theo Bongani Ndyalvane.

Director Patricia Riggen’s tense film, G20, is a relentless action picture starring the always exceptional Viola Davis as the President of the United States. At one point, Davis’s character is fighting a character who says he thought she’d be a lot more “formidable.” He’s about to bite his tongue because Davis’s POTUS doesn’t play and she is the fierce, determined leader the world wishes it could have one day. On the surface, G20 feels like a basic terrorist picture that’s been done before, but Viola Davis brings the level of the material up a notch which makes the viewer anticipate that there will be some over-the-top action sequences which arrive in expert fashion and certainly will not disappoint audiences looking to see Davis’s President Danielle Sutton save the day as only a POTUS as determined as a Viola Davis character could.

Set during a G20 summit of world leaders, a movie like G20 is only as strong as its central villain is and the movie casts Antony Starr as Rutledge who is just fine in the role. Of course, Rutledge’s motives are financial and the plot is driven by his attempts to manipulate the world with a cryptocurrency scheme. Starr is menacing enough to be believable as he invades the summit hotel and, eventually, faces off with Sutton as he tries to aggressively conquer the country as we know it.

This new film pushes family values alongside its action scenes to excellent effect. Anthony Anderson serves as Derek Sutton, Danielle’s husband, while their kids, Serena and Demetrius, are played effectively by Marsai Martin and Christopher Farrar. As the film’s story begins, Serena’s antics have landed her in hot water with “Mom” so she is tagging along with the “fam” to the summit. As the film progresses, the immediate family of heroes are put into several intense scenarios, one which culminates in Derek getting shot. You’ll surely want to see if he survives the attack by watching the picture.

Davis makes the role of the President one of her most memorable creations to date. That’s not saying it’s even one of her top 10 performances of all-time, but still… Davis’s part here is the whole show as her character’s physical abilities will help her participate in combat scenes that she never thought she’d have to endure in her current position. This movie has a few moments of comic relief, but it’s mostly intent on its intense action scenes which are rip-roaring set pieces and well orchestrated throughout.

Ramon Rodriguez is a stand-out in the supporting cast as a Secret Service Agent, Manny Ruiz, whose part helps drive the action forward. Also on board is Clark Gregg as Harold Mosely, the Vice President, who gets a few scenes to shine in as well. Perhaps, one of the most distinct parts of G20 is the President’s limo known as the Beast which is incorporated into the action as well at key intervals throughout this film. Of course, the movie ends up making the Treasury Secretary a villain, but I’ll leave that for you to discover in more detail by seeing the picture.

While the situation that G20 proposes is genuinely frightening, the movie maintains a safe distance from some of the country’s current events in order to present a basic story of good vs. evil. “Money is the root of all evil” may be the primary theme here though the film unveils a bit of complexity in its thought-provoking premise as well. It is the quality of the action sequences that ultimately drive this picture home as one that is worth seeing. You’ll be gasping for air as the POTUS escapes some scary scenarios and manages to put up one helluva fight along the way.

Let’s face it, G20 could have faltered with a less commanding actress in the lead. Casting Davis was the only true way to make this film a success because she’s not only plausible as the POTUS, but she’s also smart and sophisticated enough to make us believe she could actually defeat the wicked Rutledge and save civilization as we know it.

This film is not without its minor flaws. Its basic structure is chock full of familiar elements that we’ve seen countless times before in films like Die Hard or the recent Cleaner. Those films made ordinary people the heroes while G20 makes the leader of the country the hero. We need to see a person in power in that light to give us hope to deal with our current political climate right now. Nevertheless, Davis once again proves she can do pretty much anything in the cinematic world. If her work in The Woman King predicted she’d be a dignified action hero of this magnitude, I may have missed that memo. My apologies in that regard. Viola Davis is the queen of action in G20 which gives audiences a dose of action that will have viewers cheering by the time the film’s credits roll.

Rating: 7/10

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