Long before Hollywood actress Viola Davis turned the quasihistorical 2022 film “The Woman King” into a No. 1 blockbuster, she was already looking for “Die Hard”-channeling action heroines to portray onscreen. 

In a statement released last week, Davis recalled meeting with the filmmakers behind “G20” for the first time in 2016. Helmed by Patricia Riggen, the action movie was launched on April 10 on Prime Video. 

“At that point, I had never done an action film,” the actress said. “I have been wanting to do something like this because I liked envisioning myself as Sigourney Weaver in ‘Alien’ or Angelina Jolie in ‘Salt.’ So when they said they were looking for a woman they felt could really kick ass, someone who projected strength and authority, it all sounded very exciting to me.”

Of course, Davis isn’t the first actress to look convincing in physical derring-do. Aside from Weaver and Jolie, Michelle Yeoh (“Tomorrow Never Dies”), Gal Gadot (“Wonder Woman”), Milla Jovovich (“Resident Evil”), Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill: Vol. 1”), Scarlett Johansson (“The Avengers”), Kate Beckinsale (“Underworld”), Jennifer Garner (“Alias”), Sarah Michelle Gellar (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) and even Meryl Streep (“The River Wild”) also proved they could pack mighty punches, each of them imbuing complex characterization with a measure of plausibility and celluloid sparkle. 

But Davis is in a class all her own. She is one of only 21 celebrities who has achieved EGOT status. She earned hers for her performances in “How to Get Away with Murder” (Emmy), the audio recording of her memoir “Finding Me” (Grammy) and “Fences” (Oscar and Tony). And while she may already be 59 years old, she refuses to rest on her laurels. 

‘Something popular’

For “G20,” Davis said she wanted a cross between a great popcorn movie and an international political thriller to make the actioner more accessible to streaming viewers. She doubled down on that decision when she told Variety last week, “I don’t think every movie you do has to be considered for an Academy Award. I also want to do something popular.”

This writer was granted early access to “G20” a week before its April 10 premiere, and we can safely say that the actress has accomplished what she set out to do. 

In the film, Davis is cast as US President Danielle Sutton who comes under siege when the world’s top leaders are held hostage by heavily armed mercenaries led by embittered Australian Special Forces veteran Edward Rutledge (Antony Starr of “The Boys,” nasty as all get out) at a global economic summit in Cape Town, South Africa. 

With security measures neutralized and communication with the outside world cut off, Rutledge launches a scheme to spread false information about the meeting using AI and deep-fake technology. 

His ultimate goal: to destabilize the world economy and corner the market on cryptocurrency. But not if Sutton, herself a decorated hero of the Iraq war, has a say about it!

When Rutledge captures 18 of the 20 leaders present in the summit—except the US president and the sniveling UK prime minister (Douglas Hodge)—and threatens to execute them one after another, Sutton decides to take matters in her own hands and leans heavily into her enemy-blasting past. 

Current hot-button issues

To raise the stakes in Sutton’s do-or-die mission, the production utilizes hot-button issues currently raising concerns in a world on the verge of chaos. But does she still have what it takes to go mano-a-mano against gun-wielding goons twice her size but half her age?

Along with her lead Secret Service agent Manny Ruiz (Ramón Rodríguez), the embattled US president manages to slip out of a side door before she’s captured. But the stakes get even higher when the lives of her family, First Gentleman Derek (Anthony Anderson) and their teenage kids Serena (Marsai Martin) and Demetrius (Christopher Farrar), are put at risk.

As currencies around the world crash and crypto climbs to unprecedented heights, Sutton must use all her statecraft and military experience to defend her family, her fellow leaders, and the world. 

It’s easy to expect films of the action genre rolling predictably off the assembly line, but “G20” benefits from its lead actress’ potent combo of dramatic perspicacity and larger-than-life presence. 

Yes, some of the movie’s meandering sequences feel heavy on action-packed zingers—like the punch-heavy scene in the kitchen or the helicopter action on top of a building toward the end—but a little light on its theme-probing revelations. But when the rubber hits the road in Riggen’s combustible storytelling approach, the doubts dissipate as excitement quickly builds up. 

More than the scenes of urgency and danger, it isn’t difficult to suspend disbelief that this female American president is wired to subvert viewers’ expectations as she shuttles between her roles as her country’s commander in chief and, more importantly, her family’s fierce protector.