In 2004, Pierre Morel made his directorial debut with the action film District 13, which got some positive attention. However, it was in 2008 when he made probably the biggest movie of his career, the action-thriller Taken. Starring Liam Neeson as a retired CIA agent with a certain set of skills, the movie was a commercial hit. The film helped reinvent Neeson as an action hero, and it spawned two sequels, though without any involvement from Morel. He followed that up with 2010’s From Paris with Love starring John Travolta, then 2015’s The Gunman starring Sean Penn. Unfortunately, unlike Taken, neither film did very well financially and were mostly lambasted by critics. Flash forward to 2018, where Morel returns with a new action thriller starring Jennifer Garner called Peppermint. While not known for action, this is Garner’s first leading action role since 2005’s Elektra, so how does it fare?
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Rating
The film stars Garner as Riley North, a typical middle-age soccer mom not unlike ones you’d find at the supermarket. She lives with her mechanic husband Chris (Jeff Hephner) and daughter Carly (Cailey Fleming). While working, Chris gets an offer to be the getaway driver for a guy trying to ripoff a drug dealer. Chris ends up declining, but the head of the cartel Diego Garcia (Juan Pablo Raba) catches wind and takes action. Garcia kills the friend and sends his guys to kill Chris, finding him, Riley, and Carly at a carnival. Chris and Carly are killed while Riley is left critically injured and taken to a hospital. Once recovered, she identifies the guys responsible, but their attorney tries bribing her and the guys end up going free. Riley ends up disappearing for five years as she hones her skills and systematically taking out the guys responsible.
On the surface, this movie sounds pretty basic: person’s attacked, they’re left for dead, get back up and get revenge. Before I get into a lot of what drags this movie down, I’ll get into the positives. Right off the bat, the best thing about this is Jennifer Garner, who clearly put tons of work into this. She definitely gives it her all, and she does have some more dramatic moments to show off her acting abilities. When it comes to the action, it’s mindless and excessive, but it gets the job done and can be entertaining. Also, it seems like the filmmakers were trying to show us how mentally unstable a vigilante is. They don’t do much with it, but I can see what they’re trying to do. Also, it’s got some actors in it that I like, such as John Gallagher Jr. and John Ortiz.
Unfortunately, that’s where my positives with this movie end, as this is a pretty below-average revenge thriller. For starters, it feels like there’s footage missing as there are scenes explained to us that we’re never shown. The characters talk about what Riley’s been doing in the interim five years, but we’re only shown YouTube videos. Also, this movie relies probably too much on social media, especially in scenes where characters say Twitter really likes Riley. On a filmmaking level, the editing is a mess, with tons of shaky cam and choppy quick cuts throughout. There’s also an odd tonal dissonance, like the movie doesn’t know if it wants to be serious or over-the-top. Between the cartoonishly corrupt lawyers and the stereotypically evil cartel members, this should be a fun and ridiculous action film. However, Peppermint is a dreary and derivative film that reminds you of better revenge movies to watch.
