G20: Viola Davis stars in 'ludicrous' but fun action thriller
The award-winning actress plays the 'swashbuckling American president' in this newly released Prime Video film

Viola Davis is better known for her soul-searching performances in The Help and Fences than for her "ass-kicking action roles", said Ed Potton in The Times. But she plays the "swashbuckling American president" in this "preposterous romp" with real gusto. The film, currently screening on Prime Video, imagines a G20 summit in Cape Town, at which the world leaders gathered for the occasion are taken hostage by an Australian terrorist mastermind (Antony Starr), who plans to crash the world economy so that he can make a fortune from crypto. Alas for him, he didn't count on Davis's war-hero president, Danielle Sutton, who along with other dignitaries (including Douglas Hodge's buffoonish British prime minister) escapes to foil his plot. It's "ludicrous" and "unburdened by narrative logic", but great fun nonetheless: where else would you see the head of the IMF throttle someone in a lift, or a scene in which the "South Korean president has his ear chopped off"?
Davis is a credible action hero, said Peter Debruge in Variety. She comfortably inhabits a role of the sort that Stallone and Schwarzenegger would once have played, machine-gunning her way down corridors and, at one point, slaying half-a-dozen henchmen in quick succession. Yet while the movie "doesn't need to be realistic or even remotely plausible", it works at a "shockingly low intelligence level" and suffers from a truly dreadful script. It feels like "a parody of itself". The editing and cinematography aren't up to much either, said Beatrice Loayza in The New York Times, but ultimately, it doesn't matter. For all its faults, G20 "plays well as a silly action movie".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
3 varied alternatives to X for when you simply cannot with the new iteration of Twitter
The Explainer These competing microblogging sites have struggled to catch up to Elon Musk's market behemoth
-
Google's new AI Mode feature hints at the next era of search
In the Spotlight The search giant is going all in on AI, much to the chagrin of the rest of the web
-
Strike a pose at these 7 fashionable hotels
The Week Recommends Make these hotels in Macau, Italy and Washington, D.C., your personal runway
-
The cinematic beauty of Sicily's Aeolian Islands
The Week Recommends These scattered islands have inspired film directors since the 1950s
-
6 lounge-ready homes with conversation pits
Feature Featuring a terrazzo-flanked pit in California and a fire-side pit in Nevada
-
Is a River Alive?: a 'powerful synthesis of literature, activism and ethics'
The Week Recommends Robert Macfarlane's latest book centres on his journeys to four river systems around the world
-
Good One: an 'intensely compelling' coming-of-age tale
The Week Recommends India Donaldson's 'quietly devastating' debut feature about a teenage girl's life-changing camping trip
-
The best lemon pepper wings in Atlanta
Feature Marinated turkey wings, a Korean barbecue sauce combo and an off-menu staple
-
Film reviews: Friendship and Fight or Flight
Feature An awkward dad unravels after he's unfriended and Josh Hartnett attempts a John Wick sidestep
-
Art review: Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei
Feature Seattle Art Museum, through Sept. 7
-
Book reviews: 'Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age' and 'Mark Twain'
Feature Navigating pregnancy in the digital age and an exploration of Mark Twain's private life