The entire plot of this movie is so beautiful... You've got the leaders of the world's biggest economies gathered at the G20 summit in Cape Town, South Africa, and suddenly the whole thing gets attacked by heavily armed mercenaries and right in the middle of all this is U.S. President Danielle Sutton, played by Viola Davis..
Now, normally a president in an action movie is the person everybody is trying to protect.. Well not this one...
This president is protecting everybody...
Danielle Sutton isn't your typical politician, She's a former military officer and war hero so when the terrorists take over the summit, she isn't just sitting somewhere waiting for the Secret Service to rescue her... She gets involved herself, trying to protect her family, escape the attackers and save the other world leaders and honestly, watching Viola Davis running around with a gun and taking down armed men was probably my favorite part of the entire movie..
She just has that presence.. Even when she's not fighting, you believe that she's supposed to be the person in charge..
The movie itself is basically Die Hard at a G20 summit. There's a terrorist takeover, hostages, secret plans, hacking, explosions and one extremely determined person trying to stop everything from falling apart and yes, it's ridiculous.. Very ridiculous.
There were several moments where I just sat there thinking, "There is absolutely no way this would happen like this." But eventually I stopped caring because this isn't the kind of movie you watch for realism... You watch it for entertainment and as a simple action movie, it actually works pretty well..
I also liked the family side of the story.. Danielle isn't just fighting as the President, she's also trying to keep her husband and children alive.. That gives the action a little more emotional weight because she's not only trying to save the world leaders, she's trying to get back to her family..
The relationship with her daughter also adds something interesting because her daughter is very intelligent and technologically gifted, and that becomes useful during the crisis.
Some of that stuff is definitely exaggerated, but I still enjoyed it.
The villain, played by Antony Starr, is another part I had mixed feelings about... He's intimidating enough, and his plan sounds serious, but I don't think he's one of those tough villains..
His motivation is also wrapped up in this whole idea of economic inequality and the world's richest people controlling everything, before the movie turns that into a much bigger scheme.
It's an interesting idea, but the movie doesn't really explore it deeply and that's probably my biggest problem with G20.. It has ideas that could have made it smarter, but it usually chooses action instead.
The political side of the story could have been much more interesting... What would actually happen if world leaders were taken hostage? How would countries respond? What happens when global markets panic?.. Instead, we mostly get Viola Davis kicking people in the face... But again... I'm not complaining too much because she does it very well...
The action is pretty entertaining, although it isn't anything out of the normal.. . The movie borrows heavily from older action thrillers like Air Force One and White House Down..
What I appreciated most was seeing Viola Davis in a role where she gets to be the full action hero... She's usually associated with serious dramatic performances, so watching her throw punches, use weapons and chase terrorists around a luxury hotel was honestly refreshing.
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Rating: 70/100
