A new action film has soared to the top of the Amazon Prime Video charts despite being branded ‘bargain bin’ quality by those who have watched it.
After its release on Thursday, G20 – starring Viola Davis – has gone straight to the number one spot on the UK Prime Video charts for movies as the platform pushes its new title.
In the thriller, Oscar winner Davis plays US President Danielle Sutton, who must save her family, fellow world leaders and the globe when the summit is hijacked by terrorists intent on ruining the economy.
Directed by Patricia Riggen, G20 also features Antony Starr, Douglas Hodge, Ramón Rodríguez, Marsai Martin and Clark Gregg.
The movie has not received the warmest response from critics and fans alike, with the mixed reaction leading to a 54% rating from reviews and a 55% audience score – both officially rotten – on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
‘G20 is a glorified bargain bin movie — the kind of movie for which Amazon should be paying you, and not the other way around,’ sniped Rohan Naahar for The Indian Express, while The Daily Beast branded it: ‘Part Die Hard, part wish-fulfillment saga for a post-2024 present that didn’t come to pass, it’s a fantasy of feminist and U.S. might that’s chockablock with implausibilities.’
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Other reviews described it as ‘the perfect brain-rot escapist actioner on streaming’ and ‘dumb retro-style fun’, with one adding: ‘Only an actor of Viola Davis’ calibre could make this shoddily constructed, rudimentarily written green screen dream palatable.’
However, other professional critics skewed more positive, especially when it comes to producer-actor Davis’ performance.
‘The action is serviceable enough, enjoyment based less on deftly staged choreography and more on the catharsis offered to Davis, as president and actor,’ suggested Benjamin Lee for The Guardian, while Flickering Myth’s EJ Moreno said: ‘Viola Davis could EGOT again for keeping this afloat. It brings us back to the bombastic action blockbusters of the 1990s, which is what we need these days.’
IndieWire’s Kate Erbland also praised G20 for having ‘a super-fun premise for an action film and a star both so good and so classy that it never feels as if she’s punching below her weight class’.
Fans were equally split, with G20 called ‘a cinematic knockout’ as Patti N insisted: ‘If you love or even like Viola Davis & you want some entertainment then it’s a must see.’
‘Viola Davis is a revelation as the next big action star, and Patricia Riggen’s directing maintains a fevered pitch. Don’t miss it!’ chimed in Alfredo B on Rotten Tomatoes, while Dan R claimed he ‘ha[dn’t] enjoyed a movie this much in decades’.
‘As someone who has watched action movies my entire life, it takes a lot to truly impress me – but G20 absolutely delivered. From the first scene to the very last, this film was a high-stakes, adrenaline-fueled ride that never let up,’ shared Joann Praise Emmanson on Google.
But Matt W described G20 as ‘a film from the bottom of the Amazon Basics range’.
‘Bad acting, dialogue, etc. Just a waste of everyone’s time and money,’ he added, and Bram K commented: ‘Horrible story, Swiss cheese has less holes.’
‘It was difficult to find the worst movie of the year so far. Now we’ve found it,’ complained Mauricio M.
Director Riggen told Metro she was ready for G20 to ‘change culture’ as an action movie helmed by two women and starring a female American president.
‘It was just the idea of having a Black female president that seemed absolutely important for me, as a woman, as a female director, to make it happen,’ she said.
‘Because movies change culture. They normalise things. And I thought, this is a fun popcorn movie – but it’s also going to help normalise something.’
Riggen praises the UK – which is represented in G20 by Douglas Hodge’s reluctant ally, Prime Minister Oliver Everett – for having ‘normalised its powerful women centuries ago’.
‘But that’s not the case in other countries, for instance, in the United States. So let’s put them in movies, let’s help people see them like a normal thing, and then we’ll get a woman elected one of these days.’
G20 is streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video now.
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