G20

Over my 47 years i have seen several American presidents take office at the White House in Washington DC. The earliest memory i have of my first moment of seeing the American president was on Swedish TV back in 1981 and that was Ronald Reagan. He was elected President on November 4, 1980 but i was too young to remember that ( i was 3 years old at that time ). So why do i remember seeing President Reagan just a year later? My grandfather Ingvar watched a lot of news coverage regarding the assassination attempt of President Reagan in 1981 and he wanted to know the latest details. Obviously i was too young to understand at that time what have happened so when i was a litte bit older in 1986 ( i was 9 years old at this time ) i read about this assassination attempt in a history magazine at our local library. That´s when i had flashbacks from the TV news coverage of President Reagan in 1981 but i only remembered a few images. Since the 80´s a lot of things happened with different Presidents and who can forget the President Bill Clinton scandal in 1998 where he had sex with White House intern Monica Lewinsky? A classic American historical moment that sold a lot of gossip magazines and news papers worldwide. Did you know that Monica moved to London in 2005 and studied social psychology at the London School of Economincs? Since then she have done a lot of different things and of course will always be marked over this 1998 scandal. Speaking of Presidents in the year 1997 director Wolfgang Petersen ( director of the 1984 children movie classic The NeverEnding Story ) released his action film Air Force Down with legendary actor Harrison Ford as U.S. President James Marshall. This is definetely one of the best action films with a President kicking terrorist ass and Harrison Ford did a great performance. Legendary actor Gary Oldman as the Russian terrorist leader Egor also gives a wonderful acting performance. Air Force One is one of those 90´s action movies that came at a perfect time when action movies were very entertaining and you should definetely check it out on streaming or physical media. I woud also recommend the 2013 action film Olympus Has Fallen with Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart ( where Aaaron plays President Benjamin ). This spring a new action film was released on Amazon Prime where female President Danielle Sutton ( played by actress Viola Davis who i always remember from the 2009 vigilante action thriller Law Abiding Citizen ) kicks terrorist ass in the action film G20. I thought it would be interesting to see a female President showing her combat skills so i decided to give this film a chance. Is this the action film to watch this summer or is G20 as predictable as Smokie´s full discography ( where all the albums sounds the same ) ?.

President Sutton ( Viola Davis ) travel to South Africa with her husband Derek Sutton ( Anthony Anderson ) and their two children Serena Sutton ( Marsai Martin ) and Demetrius Sutton (Christopher Farrar ). Sutton have to attend the G20 summit meeting leaders from all over the world. But this G20 summit is suddenly stopped as a group of terrorists lead by their leader Rutledge ( Anthony Starr ). He have specific demands and want to capture President Sutton to be able to complete his mission. What Rutledge doesn´t know is that Sutton knows how to deal with terrorists, especially if she needs to use more violent tactics.

If you were hoping that G20 was going to be an action film that reminds us of action films such as Die Hard and Air Force Down then this is the film for you. It is not a classic such as the films i mentioned, but what G20 does that is a bit different is bringing out a female President who does not only hold speeches, she actually fight and handle different guns as well. Other than that there are no big surprises in this film. That does not mean this is a terribe film, i think i should be honest though and let you know this is a very basic action film. So let us get into the positive about G20 and i have to say it is a good idea to hold this terrorist attack at a political event for world leaders. If you want to make an impact and put fear into highly respected people then the G20 meeting in South Africa is definetely the right location. The characters of this film is a bit of a mixed bag, a couple of the characters function while others are pretty forgettable. I do think the strength of this film comes from the performance of actress Viola Davis as President Sutton. Not only is she rough and not afraid to face fear, she is also willing to protect innocent lives that crosses her path. Viola have no problem doing a physical action performance and you can tell she must have had fun making this film. I do appreciate actor Anthony Starr ( who you recognize from the very popular TV series The Boys ) as the main villain Rutledge. Some of the action scenes look alright and to see Viola Davis fight against big men is quite charming. To the negative i have to say the crypto money part of the story didn´t interest me at all. I would have prefered a different approach by these terrorists, because not all of us care about crypto money or crypto currency. I would still say that G20 is an action film that manage to entertain me for trying to go old school with physical fights and gun battles. Director Patricia Riggen ( who directed the interesting film The 33, based on the true story of a copper mine in Chile collapsing with workers stuck inside ) may not deliver an action film that may be remembered for bringing anything new, but she still manage to bring back old school action that VHS fans may appreciate. If you just want to be entertained with violence this summer, give G20 a chance on Amazon Prime.

Rating: DDD