Released just three months after the Trump inauguration, the geopolitical action thriller G20 was always going to have unavoidable resonance. While the shoot ended back in March last year, there must have been points during the post-production process when those involved wondered if their film – a rousing story of a Black female president taking charge – would coincide with a similar, albeit less schlocky, real-world victory.

It wasn’t to be, and instead the film has landed on Amazon at a far less inspiring time for the US, when a president has decided to destroy rather than save his country. Any links to be made from fiction to fact push Trump’s agenda closer to that of the bad guys, who aim to tank the global economy and stop a perceived US overspend of foreign aid. While there are moments that might unintentionally insist we make the connection (lead villain expressing glee at a horribly familiar red stock market arrow), G20 isn’t trying to be The Political Film We Need Right Now, its makers smartly picking brawn over brain.

One might be fooled into thinking that might not be the case, however, with a glance toward the film’s choice of lead, the EGOT-winning actor Viola Davis. Since she graduated from bit-part player to Oscar winner, Davis has had the odd flirtation with genre (supporting roles in the DC and Hunger Games franchises) but has mostly stuck with drama, a decorated stage actor who gives a stirring monologue like no other. Yet in G20, she’s letting her fists do the talking, a fun diversion for an actor who often hasn’t had the meaty roles many of us believe she has deserved (this is only her third lead since winning an Oscar for Fences in 2017).

She’s a smart choice to play Danielle Sutton, a president with military experience, as she has both the commanding regality of a leader (she did, after all, play one in The Woman King) and the imposing physicality of a fighter (she has retained her well-trained physique from that movie). She’s forced to rely more on the latter after a G20 summit in South Africa descends into chaos when terrorists take over. She’d hoped to use the conference to help further her noble agenda to help many in the poorer regions of Africa gain better access to digital banking capabilities, but her antagonist, played by The Boys baddie Antony Starr, has a different idea. He hopes to stoke fear by hijacking her plan using deepfake tech to convince people across the world that this is in fact a cover for world leaders to gain control over the finances of less capable countries.

He hopes to use this distrust to destroy existing currencies and persuade others to use crypto instead (very easy to root against a guy who is super into blockchain!), which will divert all of the money to him. With her heels replaced by flats and a gun in hand, Sutton is determined to save her family, the economy and the world – order to be determined.

Contemporary buzzwords aside, G20 works off a blueprint perfected in the 80s and popular in the 90s, a decade that saw its own president-v-terrorists actioner in Air Force One. There’s nothing quite as sleekly entertaining here but there are low-grade pleasures to be had in the moment before they’re forgotten about soon after. Davis provides Jack Ryan director Patricia Riggen with safer hands than we’re used to in a streaming mockbuster such as this, although sometimes the film could benefit from more talk and less action. There are moments in the last act where she’s allowed to verbally spar with Starr, as they bark their agendas at each other, that have a crackle that’s missing from much of the more mechanical film. It’s pacey but also a little rushed, especially in the development of her integral relationship with a rebellious daughter, a payoff that loses some of its power at the end. The script, credited to four people including White Boy Rick scribes Logan and Noah Miller, isn’t funny or smart enough to elevate this in the way that Davis easily can and it’s hard not to wonder what a sharper writer could have done with this setup.

The action is serviceable enough, enjoyment based less on deftly staged choreography and more on the catharsis offered to Davis, as president and actor (she has spoken in recent press about the pleasure and freedom the role has provided). The thrill it offers to her doesn’t always make its way to us but there are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon, watching a hyper-competent president save the economy and bring down a tech bro. One can dream.

• G20 is now available on Amazon Prime Video