Viola Davis Runs the World – ryan

Three years after being crowned The Woman King on the big screen, beloved EGOT-winning performer Viola Davis can be named “The Woman President” this week. It’s too bad G20 is heading straight to Prime Video because the full-house advanced screening MovieWeb attended couldn’t have been livelier. The joyously raucous crowd reacted appropriately to every little twist and turn offered in Davis’ new starring vehicle, directed by award-winning filmmaker Patricia Riggen (The 33). Featuring a spread of other household names, including a reliably terrifying turn from “Homelander” himself (The Boys standout Antony Starr), G20 succeeds due to its thrills mostly overshadowing its missteps and miscasts. So buckle up for Davis’ latest heroic turn.

Bitcoin Bites

G20

Release Date: April 10, 2025
Director: Patricia Riggen
Writers: Noah Miller, Logan Miller, Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss
Producers: Andrew Lazar, Julius Tennon

Cast

Viola Davis

Danielle Sutton

G20 is a political thriller centered around President Danielle Sutton, who must leverage her statecraft and military skills to protect her family and global leaders when the G20 Summit is seized by terrorists. Released in 2025, the film explores themes of international diplomacy and crisis management.

Pros & Cons

Viola Davis means business, and is as engaging as ever.
Some engaging action sequences well-directed by Patricia Riggen.

There are some throwaway supporting performances throughout.
This should’ve been in movie theaters.

It always helps when your country’s head of state has a military background. In G20,

President Danielle Sutton (Davis) once served and now leads the U.S., with impressively toned arms to show for it. Davis is still glowing, deadpan funny, and just badass all around, especially in her new action flick — so cue potential eye-rolls when you realize Danielle’s husband, Derek, is played by Anthony Anderson. Sure, we’ve grown to like the funny man after years of Black-Ish, but the lovely Davis deserves a more fitting and realistic lad alongside her in G20. We’re talking Tyler Perry, maybe Idris Elba. The Davis-Anderson pairing just doesn’t feel right, especially when Anderson tries to turn dramatic here and there. Oh well.

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Back to the action. The couple and their teenage kids — including the trouble-making brainiac Serena (Marsai Martin) — head to South Africa for the eponymous conference, where the international forum will actually be held this November (in Johannesburg). The world’s leaders are quickly taken under siege by a ruthless bitcoin enthusiast named Rutledge (Starr). Things turn violent, but Danielle is able to slip away from the terrorists’ clutches with help from her loyal security detail, Manny (the excellent Ramón Rodríguez).

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A few prime ministers hide with Madame President, including Elena Romano (The White Lotus Season 2 star Sabrina Impacciatore), and they desperately formulate a sort of rescue operation that could ultimately return everyone to safety. But it’s easier said than done, as Rutledge has quite the army of mercenaries by his side.

Viola Getting Violent

It takes a hot minute for Davis’ action chops to shine, but once the Oscar winner delivers, man, you’ll be shaking in your boots — or slippers, rather, since this is an at-home viewing experience. Starr, meanwhile, loses himself in the frenzied, villainous role of Rutledge, who uses video recordings of the captive global leaders to deep-fake them into “praising” bitcoin. He then posts these videos on social platforms across the globe, so that viewers at home can buy into his con, invest in the futuristic currency and tank the stock market.

The third act features a climactic “get to the chopper” sequence that succeeds in not looking entirely green-screened, but most of the terror occurs indoors, within the confines of the South African headquarters of the G20 conference. And that’s quite alright, especially since the film’s centerpiece moment occurs inside a cramped elevator, of all places. It’s when Davis finally spreads her action-heroine wings, throwing a red-dressed smackdown alongside her equally likable co-star Rodriguez — even though they’re vastly outnumbered by tyrannical mercenaries. It’s the kind of no-nonsense fight scene you might want to replay for kicks. Thankfully, these types of moments mostly overshadow the somewhat preposterous conflict at hand — centered on deep fakes successfully fooling literally the entire world’s population.

Real-life fans of these kinds of modern financial dealings will enjoy keeping up with the film’s central conflict, while others will worry there’s not enough of Davis kicking the crap out of people on screen. But it’s there, folks. Just you wait. From Amazon MGM Studios, G20 will begin streaming on Prime Video beginning April 10, 2025. Watch it then through the link below:

Watch G20