5 Movies to Watch After G20

When it comes to Die Hard adjacent movies, there are far worse choices than Amazon’s G20. Bolstered by a powerhouse performance from Viola Davis, it’s just further proof that she can truly do anything. Drama, comedy, action, she’s a chameleon. With Knight and Day, Ender’s Game, Blackhat, and Widows under her belt, it’s not the first time she’s graced the action genre, and considering The Woman King it’s not even the first time she’s headlined an actioner, but it is the first time she’s fronted a straightforward actioner. Admittedly, her work is not the only thing that works about the film, but her work is without a doubt the main aspect that works about the film.

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We’ve already mentioned Die Hard and, given the fact G20 is about some money-hungry terrorists (who don’t like being called terrorists) storming the G20 Summit, we’re going to mention it again. But what other movies make for terrific companion pieces to the Amazon original? Let’s find out.

Die Hard

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Believe it or not, Die Hard is not the ultimate companion piece to G20. The movies that follow it on this list have a certain political influence (or Viola Davis connection) that, in fact, makes it the least connected of the five.

But let’s face it: you can’t watch G20 without thinking Die Hard. A character is in a certain location for a certain purpose (be it visiting his estranged wife or to give a speech to the world’s various nations) only for that location to be taken over by terrorists. At that point, the character must take down the terrorists and not only survive, but save all the civilians, as well.

Stream Die Hard on Prime Video.

White House Down

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In 1998, two movies hit theaters within less than two months of each other that were awfully similar. The first was Deep Impact and the second was Armageddon. Deep Impact carried a budget of $80 million and made $350 million worldwide. Armageddon had a budget of $140 million and netted an even more impressive $553.7 million worldwide. In other words, they both found success (though, in spite of it being the inferior film, Armageddon seems to have found itself ingrained in the pop culture lexicon to a far greater extent than Deep Impact).

In 2013 this happened again with a globe-threatening meteor swapped out for a group of terrorists storming the White House. This time, three months separated their releases and, in terms of financial success, there was a huge middle ground between the meteor movies and the White House movies. The Gerard Butler-fronted Olympus Has Fallen was a surprise success, earning $170 million against $70 million, and kickstarting a franchise in the process. White House Down, with peak-of-their-popularity Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx on the poster, came with a whopping $150 million price tag and just $205 million worldwide. And, since its release, White House Down seems to have been mostly forgotten, while Olympus is due for both a fourth film and a TV series spinoff. It’s a shame because they’re comparably solid films, and White House Down is worthy of re-evaluation as one of Roland Emmerich’s better works.

Stream White House Down on fuboTV.

Olympus Has Fallen

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What’s most impressive about Olympus Has Fallenā€˜s success is that, as an R-rated film, it was less accessible than the PG-13 White House Down. And, tonally, they’re quite different.

Olympus can occasionally be ultra-violent. The viewer feels the stakes a bit more. Neither film is particularly realistic, but Antoine Fuqua’s movie seems to go for that a bit more. G20 does the same, and with its R rating, it’s closer to being Olympus than White House Down.

Rent Olympus Has Fallen on Amazon Video.

The Suicide Squad

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Viola Davis was so good as Amanda Waller in Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad that James Gunn went ahead and brought her over from the DCEU to the DCU (here’s hoping the same ends up being the case for Margot Robbie). Though there are certain throughlines between Davis’ shady DC government official and her President Sutton, they really couldn’t be any more different as human beings.

In terms of how they are similar, President Sutton and Waller are both mothers (when it comes to Waller this was revealed in Peacemaker). And, while they’re tough on their kids, they do seem to have their best interests at heart. Furthermore, when something tough needs to be done, both President Sutton and Waller are the ones to do it. It’s just, in the case of the latter, this sometimes means shooting a bunch of people working for her because they know too much (in Suicide Squad) or threatening a man’s daughter (in the infinitely superior Gunn film The Suicide Squad).

Stream The Suicide Squad on Max.

Air Force One

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Five years after Passenger 57 did ā€œDie Hard on a plane,ā€ Wolfgang Petersen and Harrison Ford did it better with Air Force One. A substantial box office hit in 1997 (and well-reviewed to boot), the film is the first Hollywood blockbuster to have it be the President of the United States who is running up against a group of angry terrorists.

Like Davis as President Sutton, Ford makes for a believable president almost as much as he makes for a believable action hero. The two roles are even written in a fairly similar manner, with Ford’s President Marshall being a veteran of the Vietnam War, whereas President Sutton is also an Army veteran, though the former was an Air Force helicopter aviator, which certainly comes in handy once his plane is fresh out of pilots.

Stream Air Force One on fuboTV.

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