Bullet Points: G20 (2025)
I am sure we have all heard of Oscar Season. It is the time of year when Hollywood studios release movies they feel have a shot at winning an Academy Award.
2025 has introduced us to a new season. A season we are in the midst of it right now. It is “Oscar Winners Do Action” Season!
This very weekend, you can hop in your car, head out to the theater and watch Oscar winner Rami Malek blow up some bad guys in The Amateur. OR, you can plop down on your couch, fire up Prime Video and watch Oscar Winner Viola Davis prove that Hollywood will never run out of Die Hard scenarios in G20!
- Introductions: The movie wastes no time introducing us to the main characters in the movie… first we travel to Budapest, where we see Rutledge (Antony Starr, The Boys) procure a valuable crypto wallet in rather dubious fashion. It is quite clear that Rutledge is going to be the big bad in the movie. If you want a top tier villain, Antony Starr is a great casting choice.. Cut to Washington D.C. where Madame President Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis) is woken up in the middle of the night by her Secret Service detail, Agent Manny Ruiz (Ramón Rodríguez), with news that her 17 year old daughter, Serena (Marsai Martin), managed to sneak out of the White House and go out and party at a Georgetown Bar without her Secret Service detail. Teenagers, amirite?!?
- Cape Town, Here We Come: In addition to dealing with her rebellious daughter, President Sutton is preparing for the annual G20 Summit, where she will present her Together Plan to her fellow world leaders… After the Serena incident, President Sutton makes the call that her entire family will join her on the trip to Cape Town, South Africa for the G20… Obviously security is a huge concern and in the lead up to the conference the President is briefed on the security measures that have been put into place in and around the hotel that is hosting. One aspect of the security measures troubles President Sutton, the use of the private security firm, Pax Worldwide… this ends up being a prescient thought, because do you know who is among the Pax Worldwide team… if you guessed Rutledge, you’d be right!
- G20 Summit: All of the world’s major economies are represented at the G20 and the event starts with a reception at the hotel’s grand ballroom. One moment, all the world leaders gather for a group photo, the next Rutledge’s diabolical plan to send the world into financial chaos begins as does “Die Hard at the G20″. Like any Die Hard scenario, you need a fly in the ointment, or in this case we have flies… when the shit hits the fan Agent Manny Ruiz was prepared having studied the hotel’s blueprints thoroughly, with his help President Sutton, along with the British Prime Minister and two other would be hostages, manage to escape from the ballroom. This is a wrinkle that Rutledge did not plan for, so he sends some of his men to track down Madame President… those poor fools, I am sure they did not anticipate that President Sutton’s military background would kick in like it did… in an elevator no less.
Once G20 gets rolling, it does not stop. Is any of it plausible?!?! Probably not, but it is a ton of fun… Viola Davis’ President Sutton joins the ranks of Harrison Ford’s President James Marshall and Bill Pullman’s President Thomas J. Whitmore in the pantheon of badass Presidents… G20 does everything an over the top action movie should do, it makes great use of the setting with action all over the hotel, including an electrifying kitchen fight and some underground parking garage action too… There’s a shocking betrayal… Some unexpected allies… And not only do we get a highly motivated super villain from Australia, in the form of Antony Starr’s Rutledge, Rutledge also has some quality henchmen. Quality henchmen were in abundance in the 80s and 90s, and I fear we took them for granted. So, when the do pop up in modern action movies I make sure to give them their flowers.
Watching G20 was a blast! I am actually surprised Amazon didn’t opt to give this one a theatrical release. I imagine watching with some enthusiastic movie goers would have only added to the experience.
Now allow me to add to this review experience, with some Bonus Bullet Points…
- Bastard Count: There was one “bastard” in G20, courtesy of Rutledge.
- Familiar Faces: Vice President Harold Moseley was played by Clark Gregg, better known as Agent Phil Coulson from the MCU… Anthony Anderson played President Sutton’s husband, Derek. Action fans will no doubt remember Anderson from Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, and Cradle 2 the Grave.
- Soundtraxx: The song “Pata Pata” by Miriam Makeba was featured in G20.
