''G20'' is a 2025 American

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Patricia Riggen Patricia Riggen (born June 2, 1970) is a Mexican film director. She is best known for directing the 2007 film '' Under the Same Moon,'' the 2011 Disney Channel original film '' Lemonade Mouth,'' and the 2025 Amazon Prime action thriller film ...

and written by Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, and Logan and Noah Miller. The film stars

Viola Davis Viola Davis ( ; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and film producer. List of awards and nominations received by Viola Davis, Her accolades include both the Triple Crown of Acting and EGOT. ''Time (magazine), Time'' named her one of ...

as a president who must use her military skills to fight off terrorists who have taken over a

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

conference venue, with

Anthony Anderson Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is known for his leading roles in television shows such as Andre "Dre" Johnson on the comedy series ''Black-ish'' (2014–2022), Marlin Boulet on the ...

Marsai Martin Caila Marsai Martin ( ; born August 14, 2004) is an American actress and producer, best known for her role as Diane Johnson on the ABC sitcom ''Black-ish'' (2014–2022). In 2019, Martin had a starring role in the comedy film '' Little'', which ...

, Ramón Rodríguez,

Douglas Hodge Douglas William Hodge (born 25 February 1960) is an English actor, director and musician. He has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as film and television where he has appeared in ''Robin Hood'' (2010), '' Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Retu ...

Elizabeth Marvel Elizabeth Marvel (born November 27, 1969) is an American actress. Her more prominent roles include Det. Nancy Parras on '' The District'', Solicitor General Heather Dunbar on '' House of Cards'', and President Elizabeth Keane on '' Homeland''. ...

Sabrina Impacciatore Sabrina Impacciatore (; born 29 March 1968) is an Italian actress. She is known internationally for her role as Valentina on season two of the HBO black comedy drama series ''The White Lotus'' (2022), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomi ...

Clark Gregg Robert Clark Gregg Jr. (born April 2, 1962) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He portrayed Phil Coulson in films and television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from 2008 to 2024, and voiced Coulson in an animated tele ...

, and

Antony Starr Antony Starr (born 25 October 1975) is a New Zealand actor. He is best known for his television roles, such as the dual roles of Jethro and Van West in the series '' Outrageous Fortune'' (2005–10), Lucas Hood in the Cinemax series ''Banshee'' ...

. ''G20'' was released worldwide by

Amazon MGM Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...

via

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

on April 10, 2025. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, former Australian Special Forces Corporal Edward Rutledge and his mercenaries try to acquire a $70 million

cryptocurrency wallet A cryptocurrency wallet is a device, physical medium, program or an online service which stores the Public-key cryptography, public and/or private keys for cryptocurrency transactions. In addition to this basic function of storing the keys, a cr ...

by chasing a woman down the streets and finally drugging her into a coma in a nearby pub. Meanwhile,

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

and

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

veteran Danielle Sutton is publicly embarrassed by the rebellious antics of her daughter Serena who breaks the RFID Technology and sneaks out of The White House to go partying, leading Sutton and her husband Derek to bring Serena and her brother Demetrius with them to the

summit of world leaders in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Arriving for the summit at a heavily fortified hotel in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, Sutton and

Treasury Secretary The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

Joanna Worth present their plan to empower struggling sub-Saharan farmers through access to digital currency. Infiltrating the summit, Rutledge and his men ambush the guests' security details, including Sutton's own

Secret Service Counter Assault Team The Counter Assault Team (CAT) is a specialized tactical unit of the U.S. Secret Service that provides tactical support to the Presidential Protective Division to protect the president of the United States. This is in contrast to the President ...

, and seize control of the hotel. As the members of the summit are taken hostage, Sutton and

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

Agent Manny Ruiz slip away with

UK Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

Oliver Everett, head of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

Elena Romano, and

First Lady of South Korea The first lady of the Republic of Korea (), commonly known as the first lady of South Korea, is the title held by the hostess of the Presidential Residence of South Korea, presidential residence, usually the wife of the president of South Korea ...

Han Minh-Seo, while Derek rescues his children and evades capture. Broadcasting his actions to the world, Rutledge accuses Sutton and her fellow leaders of corruption and urges citizens around the globe to place all their money in

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

, outside of governmental control. He uses the hostages' voices and likenesses to create

deepfake ''Deepfakes'' (a portmanteau of and ) are images, videos, or audio that have been edited or generated using artificial intelligence, AI-based tools or AV editing software. They may depict real or fictional people and are considered a form of ...

videos supporting his claims, leaking the doctored footage to the press, and the surge in crypto investment sends the value of his own wallet soaring. On the roof, Serena manages to send a message to

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Harold Mosely, but turncoat Secret Service Agent Darden captures Derek. Fighting off mercenaries, which include

Suidlanders The Suidlanders () is a South African right-wing ethnonationalist Afrikaner survivalist group whose ideology is based on the prophecies of Boer Siener van Rensburg. The group believes that a race war or general civil war, sometimes referred t ...

, Sutton and a wounded Ruiz guide the others to 'the Beast', the presidential armored limo. Rutledge executes the

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

and the

President of South Korea The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (), is the head of state and head of government of South Korea. The president directs the executive branch of the Government of South Korea, government and is ...

before beating Derek over the radio, forcing Sutton to reveal her location. Darden finds her but is killed by Ruiz, and Serena and Demetrius are saved by Melokuhle and Lesedi, South African government agents posing as hotel staff. Han rejoins the hostages and finds her husband's body, while Romano and Everett drive the Beast through the hotel perimeter and Lesedi destroys the mercenaries' missiles. Everett informs Mosely of Sutton's plan to save the hostages, and Ruiz cuts the hotel's power as Melokuhle and Lesedi take over the mercenaries' surveillance feed. Killing more of Rutledge's men, Sutton surrenders herself to save her husband and Worth, allowing Rutledge to manipulate her image in a final deepfake that crashes the American economy and gains him $150 billion. Accusing Sutton — who rose to prominence after a heroic photo while serving in Iraq — of profiting off the deaths of his brothers-in-arms, Rutledge shoots Derek. Stabbed by Han, Rutledge drops the wallet and flees, and a strike team rescues the hostages. Derek is saved by his bulletproof vest, and Sutton realizes Worth is in league with Rutledge, who takes Serena at gunpoint to escape by helicopter. Sutton confronts him with the wallet, the only means of accessing the money, which is knocked into the forest below. Before he can shoot Serena, Sutton tackles Rutledge out of the helicopter to his death, and the strike team pulls the helicopter to safety. In the aftermath, Worth is incarcerated, Ruiz recovers, and President Sutton's plan is successfully adopted by the G20, as she and her family return home to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

Cast

Production

It was announced in November 2022 that

was set to star in and produce the film, with

set to direct. Production was impacted in July 2023 as a result of the

2023 SAG-AFTRA strike From July 14 to November 9, 2023, the American actors' union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Pro ...

. The film had been granted an interim agreement though the production was not set to commence filming despite this, and Davis announcing the following day she would not film until the conclusion of the strike.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

officially began in January 2024 in Cape Town, with

, Ramón Rodríguez,

and

among the cast announced to be joining. Filming wrapped by early March.

Release

''G20'' was released in 240 territories globally on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

on April 10, 2025.

Reception

Robert Daniels of ''

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

'' gave the film two and a half stars out of four and wrote, "

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-gr ...

's films succeeded because Ford portrayed himself as a symbol that could be bent or complicated by showing, not telling. This is why a film like ''

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control-designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modifie ...

'', admittedly a rah-rah post-

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

film, has far more to say about America's unconscious vulnerability as a world power than ''G20'' about the war in the Middle East or America as an imperialist force. Still, the film's thunderous intentions don't wholly distract from its more exhilarating sequences."

References

External links

* {{Patricia Riggen 2025 action thriller films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s political action films 2020s political thriller films Amazon MGM Studios films American action thriller films American political action films American political thriller films Films about cryptocurrencies Films about fictional presidents of the United States Films about hostage taking Films about terrorism in Africa Films affected by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike Films directed by Patricia Riggen Films scored by Joseph Trapanese Films set in Cape Town Films set in hotels Films shot in the Western Cape MRC (company) films