President. Mother. Warrior. Viola Davis Dominates in G20

“You raised four teenagers. How are you still standing?” “Gin”

With story written by Noah Miller & Logan Miller, screenplay by Caitlin Parrish & several others, this film titled “G20” now streaming on Prime Video was directed by Patricia Riggen, produced by Viola Davis (also starring as Madam President) alongside a brilliant lineup of other producers and Executively produced by David Fliegel amongst others.

Synopsis: (MAY include spoilers)

A decorated war veteran & now President of the United States, Danielle Sutton ‘Madam President’ (portrayed by Viola Davis) is not only having to deal with the tantrums & rebelliousness of a teenage daughter Serena Sutton (played by Marsai Martin) but is equally up against a notorious mercenary hijacking a G20 World Leaders’ Summit in South Africa.

For the love of family and country, what can she do to salvage the situation? Can she save herself, her household, her colleagues and ultimately, the world? Well, why not grab your popcorn and/or favourite drink to munch and sip along as you follow events unfold in this fast paced action thriller with a runtime of 1hour 48minutes.

My Take:

Such an exhilarating performance there by everyone involved in this project! Serving viewers like myself pretty much a bang…bang…bang…back to back action!

My best act in this film has got to be Marsai Martin. While I feel it was deliberate on the part of the producers here to make her character shine bright, by giving her enough screen time, my girl equally understood the assignment, rose up to the occasion, ate and left no crumbs.

Multiple award winner Viola Davis didn’t come to play either. It’s the red-caped-dress with the trainers for me! Such a born-ready ‘Captain America’ attitude!

Loved seeing Anthony Anderson (as Derek Sutton), ha! A phenomenal guy from way back “Big Momma’s House” in 2000 with the legendary Martin Lawrence & others. Can’t believe how much he’s trimmed down over the years.

He gave an inspirational feel to this movie as a loving, gentle and ever supportive husband to a woman who carries the responsibilities & heavily laden weight of world decision-making on her shoulders. Yet, his loyalty & admiration towards her remained unwavering.

Many men should watch this and learn. Some would however rather remain beclouded by their ego and outright lack of respect for women and roll their eyes at this. Yeah! Whatever!! IT IS WHAT IT IS!!!

Now to the movie in detail…

As mentioned previously, this was fast paced. Hardly a dull moment as the duration was judiciously utilised. Although, there are many movies around this theme or premise of hijacking, with a President saving the day, this however stood out in that it had a strong “BLACK” female lead as the President of the United States.

The element of family bonding & teenage kids in the plot readily brings to mind Cameron Diaz’s & Jamie Foxx’s recent “Back in Action” on Netflix. Great story, cool plot, amazing direction and an incredible delivery.

Message passed crystal clear especially that you never truly appreciate what you have until you probably lose them or at the verge of losing them.

Nevertheless, as with everything under the surface of the earth, this movie is not without its flaws and shortcomings. These I’ll raise in the form of:

OBSERVATIONS/QUESTIONS:

1. The costuming & makeup here were not very appealing in my candid opinion. This is particularly in reference to Viola Davis’s wardrobe/appearance in some scenes. It felt like sometimes, the makeup was too much on her or something was missing. Not fair on my “Woman King”

2. The movie started in such a manner that had me rewinding and rewinding just to keep track. Maybe I was distracted. But it felt like that start was a lot to unpack all at once, I could barely keep up! Phew!

3. Some of the fights were illogical, far from believable and sometimes, downright dümb! What was all that interrogation in the kitchen when madam President tried to rescue the hostages? Many action films do this and I find myself screaming at my screen like “can you just shöot already!”

4. Wait a minute! Derek deals a couple of punches on a guy’s face at the hotel room and you mean to tell me that that was sufficient to unalive the guy? The guy didn’t even fight back! Oh puuuuleeeease!

5. How did that lady still have those heels on amidst all those chaos? When she eventually took them off, see me screaming “YEAH! ABOUT TIME!”

6. What happened to Agent Manny? Did he survive? Did he dïe? Honestly want to know!

Be that as it may, this was entertaining to watch. The twists though not very strong were good. A bit mindblowing but lacked the wow factor as the end felt somewhat rushed. Loved the touch of ‘Wakandaness’ here too!

I appreciate how this film incorporated the ills of deepfakes and how it’s affecting the world. Though this wasn’t really explored as much. Regardless, the tension, the casting, character development, cinematography, CGI, the suspense, the intrigue, the show of patriotism all worked well like ingredients for a good meal.

Great showmanship there by Agent Manny! “That’s my BOY!” Glad to see Rutledge get a taste of his own medicine! Though predictable in a certain kind of way, this was well executed! Kudos to the cast & crew!