Last night I went to see the movie Peppermint and, despite some negative reviews, I thought it was actually pretty decent. Riley North (Jennifer Garner) sees her husband and daughter gunned down by members of a drug cartel. Despite the fact that she witnesses the crime and identifies the three gunmen, they are released with the help of a corrupt lawyer and judge. With no legal recourse, Riley then embezzles a large sum of money from the bank she used to work for and disappears for five years to acquire the skills needed to take matters into her own hands. When she returns, she kills the three gunmen, the lawyer, and the judge, then sets her sights on the entire drug cartel and, in the process, becomes a sort of hero to the downtrodden. It is a very standard revenge thriller with some cringe-worthy dialogue, stereotypical villains, a plot twist that I saw coming very early on, and some awkward camera work but I found it to be strangely satisfying. Jennifer Garner is both heartbreaking as a woman who has lost her family and kick-ass as a vigilante out for justice and I enjoyed her performance. There are some great action sequences that got my adrenaline pumping (it is, however, incredibly violent) and I don't know what this says about me as a person but there was a part of me that wanted to cheer at the final resolution between Riley and the leader of the drug cartel. I also found the ending to be very intriguing. If you are a fan of movies like Death Wish and The Equalizer, you may enjoy this.
Note: I’m not sure why this movie is called Peppermint...
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