And here we go again... if Superman's greatest weakness is kryptonite, here we can never resist a new action movie. We know that the chances of it being a disaster are all the greater since the genre is an inexhaustible breeding ground for anything and everything, especially for streaming platforms hungry for content.
We know we're going to sit down and complain, noting that the brutal object has no originality and is content to copy a recipe that's worn down to the bone. Not everyone can be The Raid or John Wick. But we can't help it: as soon as we're sold a little adrenaline, we're there, crossing our fingers for a nice surprise or at least a good slice of meat, or even a laugh. So, which category does G20 fall into?
G20 is a film by Patricia Riggen, better known as a director of series, including a few episodes of Jack Ryan, the Amazon production. The cast is based mainly on two names: Viola Davis (the Amanda Waller of all the DC Universe films) as a President of the United States who should not be underestimated and Antony Starr (Homelander in The Boys) as an Australian Hans Gruber who underestimates the President of the United States.
As for the story, it is very simple: the twenty leaders of the world's greatest powers meet for the G20 while the new American head of state, Danielle Sutton, must propose an ambitious global financial plan. This is the moment chosen by a member of the special forces to lead his own economic revolution by taking the assembly hostage. But President Sutton manages to escape and must now save her family, her politics, and the world. That's a synopsis that reeks of blood, sweat, lead, and above all, finesse. So many good reasons to get started? We'll see.
1 / Captain America Great Again
An American flag and Viola Davis in evening dress, gun in hand, the poster for G20 was already a promise in itself; that of not being there to solve world hunger with bitcoin (laughing out loud), but to replay Air Force One with less Harrison Ford and more Captain America. And when the villain throws us a “Brave New World”, we know we’re at home, the home of good bad taste. Because for those who love the genre, the feature film is a supermarket that ticks all the boxes: we have big guns, big cars, big missiles, big knives, big arms, in short, about twenty big things – hence the title – that don't bother with subtlety.
A lack of nuance that is found in the American president, a virtuous model par excellence. A loving woman, a slightly out-of-touch mother who knows how to question herself, a leader who wants to solve a global problem, a former soldier who pulls a child out of ruins, a heroine who abandons no one... A model of exemplarity because she wants to "Make America Great Again," but while remaining progressive, so as not to get confused with reality. Yet another case of a fantasized America written by dreamy Americans. Cinema is beautiful.
Right now, you're probably thinking that the previous argument sounds like a pretty good reason not to watch a movie where clichés reign supreme. And that's precisely why we recommend it. Because it's terrible! Seriously, get some friends together, a good bottle, and the first person to look up, drink their glass of grape juice. However, unlike some awful productions that have found their way to screens recently (do you really want to talk about The Gardener again?), G20 is appreciated because it is one of those funny films in spite of itself that tries to do things well while systematically hitting the wrong mark, without realizing it.
The characters are written like stereotypes, like the rebellious teenager who is necessarily a computer genius, and each sequence gives rise to incredibly absurd, even racist and sexist situations. The President presents her innovative economic plan to the press? Her role as a mother is questioned. The Korean first lady? She's the only one who spots the access to the laundry room. Two South African agents arrive? There's a reference to Wakanda... G20 is a collection of clichés... and not the good ones. Scenes that we naively thought were impossible in 2025 and that the film strings together in a triple somersault beforehand.
3 / The talent of not having one
Why watch G20? For all these questions that will never be answered. Why, in the middle of an action scene, does the director launch into an aerial shot where we can't see anything anymore? Why spoil a twist with a camera focusing on exchanged glances? Why do the characters' justifications come straight out of a schoolyard? The list goes on.
For 105 minutes, G20 is an example of a film where even the improbable can be done badly, but with such blindness and the impression that it's cool, that we actually enjoy laughing at it. It doesn't have the qualities of a dud, nor even the flaws of a good one; it just tries to screw up every single one of its aspects with the consistency of a metronome. Why watch G20? Because it's an excellent comedy that ignores itself.
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