Peppermint (Review)
Peppermint Wastes Absolutely No Time Getting to What Audiences are There to See.
Vigilantism seems like quite the male-dominated field, but Peppermint definitely gives the best of the best a run for the movie. It’s not that its a good movie. In fact, it’s pretty far from that even during its best parts. However, it gives me exactly what I want from a character that ends up taking the law into their own hands. Thus I’m left at a bit of conundrum. Can a good character save a bad movie? If the 80’s are anything to be believed, then hell yeah they can.
Director Pierre Morel wastes absolutely no time getting right to the point with Peppermint. While normally I’d complain about lack of character development and backstory, I think this actually does a lot for Peppermint over all, because it’s not a movie about who Riley North (Jennifer Garner) was before her tragedy, it’s about what it turns her into. That isn’t to say that we don’t get a healthy dose of motivation for her character in the form of a flashback. However, Morel never forces the audience to sit through more than they absolutely have to. I know I certainly appreciated it not half-heartedly tugging on heartstrings in a desperate attempt at sentimentality. Instead, it devotes that time instead proving why Riley North is a character not to be messed with.
The casting of Jennifer Garner in Peppermint makes a ton of sense given that she spent years as TV super spy Sydney Bristow in Alias. However, Riley North is a far cry from any role she’s ever taken on before. For one thing, it is an incredibly physical role. Most of her screen time is sent taking apart the drug cartel responsible for killing her husband and daughter. However, this doesn’t mean that’s she’s simply Schwarzenngering her way through scenes as an unstoppable killing machine. There’s a vulnerability to her, especially as she ends up taking on several characters that are much larger than she is physical. Still, it’s not about the size of the dog in the fight when it comes to Peppermint and Riley North definitely is the dog with the bigger fight in her. Garner throws herself into scenes with such utter savagery that there’s never a point where I think the bad guys ever have an upper hand, no matter what the weight difference might be.
Oddly enough, Garner playing the strong and silent type. Her character doesn’t really have a way with words, but that’s because the film believes that actions speak louder than words. That being said there are a few moments during the action sequences where it’s hard to tell what’s going on, but that’s because Morel tries his best to emulate the late Tony Scott’s cinema on acid aesthetic. The problem is that this doesn’t work when it’s simply used as a flourish. Scott used this technique to set tones for his late films (including Man on Fire and Domino). Morel’s use though is more of a gimmick and proves to be more distracting than dramatic.
I don’t think Peppermint holds a candle to movies like Atomic Blonde or John Wick, but it is much more of a surprise than I was expecting. The biggest problem is that it focuses a bit too much on the end results of her war on crime. We don’t get to see her really take the time to stake out people of interest or follow leads. Because watching her hunt down the big bosses behind her families murder would have been a lot of fun. Instead North just seems to have this sixth sense about where all the people she needs to kill are at any given time. While I’m a big fan of brainless brute punching their problems in the through, I felt like Peppermint owed it more to its character to show her cunning as well as savagery. This approach also takes away from the overall feeling of revenge I was looking for. Peppermint tears through bad guys so quickly that it’s hard to relish Riley North’s hard-earned justice. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying a few sequences showing the bad guys getting their comeuppance though.
The end result of Peppermint lies somewhere between a revenge drama and a vigilante film. As far as Peppermint serving up justice to the criminals who deserve it, the film could have tried to play its hand with a bit more intelligence and flair. As far as a revenge movie, well, there are so few good ones that it’s hard to have any real expectations without them being completely unrealistic thanks to films like Revenge. What I will say about Peppermint is that is a fun movie for what it is. A film that probably deserved more than it ended up with, but one that is still fun to watch. So, if you want to watch a badass lady serve up her own brand of justice, you can’t really go wrong with Peppermint. Just realize that you’re not exactly walking into the action film of the year. Still, I found it to be a nice closing note to the 2018 action season.
