G20

Directed by Patricia Riggen, G20 follows Viola Davis’ American President as she springs into action after a madman (Antony Starr’s Edward Rutledge) takes several world leaders hostage. It’s a fairly irresistible premise that’s employed to watchable yet rather forgettable effect by Riggen, as the filmmaker, working from a script by Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, and Logan Miller, and Noah Miller, delivers a hit-and-miss thriller that benefits from Davis’ predictably first-class turn and a smattering of engrossing sequences – with the latter certainly reflected in several of the picture’s high-octane moments and encounters (eg Rutledge and his team’s initial takeover of the title summit). There’s little doubt, however, that G20‘s overlong running time admittedly does pave the way for palpable (and lamentable) narrative lulls, and it’s clear, too, that the less-than-spellbinding atmosphere is compounded by Checco Varese’s low-rent cinematography and a recurring reliance on chintzy computer-generated special effects. By the time the decent (albeit typically unremarkable) climax rolls around, G20 has cemented its place as a passable actioner that admittedly fares a whole lot better than many of its similarly-themed streaming brethren.

**1/2 out of ****