Directed by: Pierre Morel
Written by: Chad St. John
Cast: Jennifer Garner, John Gallgher Jr., John Ortiz
If you’ve ever sucked on a peppermint candy, you know how its sweet taste comes on and eventually leaves a slightly stinging aftertaste. The new aptly named Jennifer Garner film is just like that. It starts sweetly enough and then dives into the stinging world of violent, action-packed revenge thriller.
If you get the feeling that this film is going to be like her smart action packed TV show Alias, think again. Just like Peppermint, that show was sweet; this one isn’t…not at all. Yet Jennifer Garner is as appealing a heroine as she ever was, the woman you’d never expect to be as unstoppable, explosive, and violent as a bomb.
With the rash of strong female lead films about in the world these days, this film takes that gender bending character to another level. If you thought Zoe Saldana’s Colombiana character was the acme of violent revenge driven females, you’re wrong, it pales in both violence and body count.
Here’s The Storyline…
Riley North (Garner) is your typical working mom, raising a daughter and keeping her husband happy while struggling to help keep her family above water. After a brutal cartel attack leaves her in a coma and kills both her loved ones, she seeks justice from a corrupt judicial system, which shields the murderers and turns them loose.
Dropping off the grid, Riley spends the next five years honing a “very particular set of skills” that turns her into an unstoppable urban guerrilla back to exact her own personal brand of punishment on the people who wronged her.
If this all sounds a bit familiar it’s understandable, Director Pierre Morel knows the territory very well, he directed Taken, Gunman, and From Paris With Love, all similarly fashioned action films.
Garner is a joy to behold, but Morel uses his heavy handed touch with action sequences to load this film with every conceivable stunt or violent action you could think of for her to exact her revenge. It would have been as much fun to watch as the original Death Wish if the body count wasn’t so high that it just eventually numbs you to it all.
Kudos to editor Frédéric Thoraval (Sinister) for a superb job keeping the movie moving, and to John Ortiz (Detective Moises Beltran) whose performance was flawless. But the real reason to see Peppermint is its star and what she must have gone through to make the film. I’m a fan!
My take…granted the film is very violent and full of nasty stuff, but if it’s the kind of action film you crave, and you can handle it all, it’s a very entertaining romp.
