G20

No, seriously. This movie would have been a perfect place for Frank Drebin to make an appearance. Just imagine him driving a police tank into the G20 meeting, crushing everything in his way! "G20" could have been a perfect parody, a spoof of amovie. But the tragedy... you see, the tragedy is that "G20" is not a parody. Is not a spoof. It is "action thriller film", that was made without a hint of smile. R. I. P. Mr. Leslie Nielsen, in another reality you could had a perfect cameo in this flick. R. I. P. "G20", a weird expirement born out of god-knows what. One day, hopefully, this will be remade as a comedy.

G20 convention, where President-Viola spearheads an anti-famine project for funding.. farmers(?) from poor countries using cryptocurrency. It goes terribly wrong, with important hostages and the world's economics threatened for the duration of the film.

Personally, I feel this action thriller (with a light political theme) fails to hook the viewer from the start with an uninteresting, rushed and bare-boned subplot about family issues that adds little emotional weight. Slow pacing, flat action, a weak villain and more.

The cast is decent and does what they can with the material. With a Viola Davis playing a Military-President that one-shots surrounding enemies while spinning 360°, and the pair of "Wakandan" soldiers (this movie, not me) coming out on top. And Antony Starr's character (the main reason I tuned in) feels underwritten and ultimately forgettable.

That disappointment kind of sums up the whole thing. The plot, character development, and resolution all feel like they're just background noise for military action set pieces. It's not over-the-top, but there's little tension or intrigue, and not enough fun to recommend.

So watched this right after work today and I must confess I'm utterly bamboozled as to how hell a movie with such a stacked cast stuffed with so many action sequences can be so boring??

It's obvious it's got a decent budget as the production values are there and there's a whole heap of plot ideas (mostly B rated tech thriller and tinfoil hat taking points) and mixed character motivations but somehow fails to cohere into a solid whole.

Really disappointing as I really like a lot of the cast members and none of them are phoning it in.

Trying to find another 50 chars so I'd best point out it's MGM marque but it does feel like a amazon direct to streaming effort.

Caught this one out of curiosity and honestly, while it's not breaking any new ground, it wasn't as bad as some of these reviews make it out to be.

Yes, the plot is familiar (think Olympus Has Fallen meets streaming-era political thriller) and yes, some of the action scenes definitely stretch believability - but I actually found parts of it enjoyable. The pacing moves along quickly enough, and the production value is solid for what I assume is a straight-to-streaming project.

Anthony Starr is easily the standout - brings a fun, menacing edge to his role without going full cartoon villain. Viola Davis has her moments too, even if her character arc feels a bit rushed.

It's definitely heavy on the "message" and a bit too polished politically, but if you're not expecting a masterpiece and just want something explosive and passable to unwind to - it works. Especially if you're a fan of the cast.

G20 has some of the right elements to do its concept justice but it's undermined by its standard issue made for streaming construction and the near constant overly serious nature which prevents it from having any fun with the concept. Like most streaming originals, it borrows from far superior films and ends up being so generic that everything it's taken from them makes it feel derivative. The casting of its hero and villain saves this from being really bad.

Viola Davis is massively over qualified for this incredibly bland material which at least means she is more than capable of elevating this with her commanding screen presence and undeniable action star credentials. Anthony Starr does a good job as the main villain, relishing in his villainy and delivering several cringe worthy speeches advertising Bitcoin without completely losing the will to live in a seriously impressive feat.

Patricia Riggen's direction is pretty lifeless. The action sequences are basic and when they do add some visual flair to proceedings it feels so random, plus there's not enough of them considering the nearly 2 hour run time. It generally looks flat thanks to a colour palette that's slightly desaturated throughout which becomes kinda distracting. Some of the CGI is laughably bad but thankfully those moments are contained to small doses.