‘Peppermint‘ (2018) is the kind of movie that has a good chances of satisfying action movie buffs while almost all other categories of viewers will avoid it and film critics will turn their noses up in superiority. Personally, I believe that a good action movie every now and then is good for my cinematic diet. In addition, I also like Jennifer Garner, the actress I met and fell for in the series ‘Alias’. Pierre Morel, the film’s director, is French and a disciple of Luc Besson, but if this film is anything to go by, he learned a lot of cinematic technique from his master and less of the boldness and inventiveness that push his good films above the level of average action movies.
‘Peppermint‘ is a revenge action film. The film’s heroine, Riley North, was once a bank clerk. Her husband had tangled with some gangsters and when he refused to participate in a hit was murdered along with their ten-year-old daughter. The scene had taken place in an amusement park and the last thing the little girl had managed to ask for was a double-scoop peppermint ice cream. Riley had only been wounded and she managed to identify the three killers. At the trial, however, the judge questions her credibility as a witness and acquits the criminals. Our heroine vows revenge, disappears for about five years only to reappear as a killing machine. She will take revenge not only on the three criminals and the head of the gand who sent them to murder her family, but also on judges, prosecutors, all the members of the gangster gang, the whole corrupt system. Somebody counted 43 corpses left in her wake by the heroine in less than two hours of action. I didn’t check.
As an action film and for those who accept the rules of the genre, ‘Peppermint‘ works very well. The action is simplistic and predictable, but well written and the events follow each other at a fast pace, keeping the viewers’ attention all the time. For Jennifer Garner, this role required sustained physical training but not much acting talent (which she has, but is not used here). The rest of the characters are nothing more than stereotypes with the psychological depth of video game characters. I actually think this comparison is the most appropriate, and maybe the video game ‘Peppermint’ actually exists. ‘Peppermint‘ looks like an ’80s B-movie with a female lead, but made in 2018. The action movie buff in me doesn’t regret the time spent watching it. Those who are not enthusiastic about this genre would do well to avoid it.