Review of Peppermint (2018) by Jc A — 07 Sep 2018

Peppermint is an unapologetic, gratuitously violent, simple tale of revenge. Jennifer Garner gives a literal kick ass performance as Riley North- a bereaved mother and wife who becomes a one woman vigilante force after her husband and ten year old daughter are gunned down in cold blood ( on her daughter's birthday no less). Unlike the Death Wish reboot, Peppermint makes practically no attempt to lift its narrative to a philosophical level by exploring the societal implications of.

Vigilantism. Quite to the contrary, Peppermint revels in unabashed vengeance as Riley systematically rains down judgment on her family's killers like an avenging angel, racking up an impressive body count with impunity.

To put it simply your enjoyment ( or lackthereof) of this film will rely solely on your identification with and sympathy for Riley. If you sympathize with Riley you will strap yourself in for this adrenaline fueled rush ride through a hail of practically nonstop gun fire, very well choreographed fight scenes and at times some utterly ridiculous situations. You will hope and pray that Riley gets her own brand of "justice" so perhaps in the end she can find some sense of closure.

This film also breaks my cardinal rule- it entertains the viewer with gratuitous violence to an extreme degree. But in this instance we cant easily forgive it. Of course we want these low lives to be taken out. So we practically cheer with each bullet to the head, each knife in the throat, etc. By the film's end we as viewers are as bloody, battered and bruised as Riley. But we have also been thoroughly entertained by drenching ourselves in killer's blood. As much as I enjoyed this movie I have to be true to myself and state that is not a good thing. I have always and I will always be of the opinion that violence itself should not be what entertains us. The story should entertain us.

Bottom line- Jennifer Garner gives an intense, brutal performance worthy of any of her predecessors in this genre. The story is predictable and Riley's constant state of over coming huge odds to get her righteous revenge gets a bit more ridiculous as time goes on. But I and the studio are banking on the fact that you will be rooting for Riley. And its my personal opinion that Jennifer Garner's outstanding performance will have you doing just that.