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Review: Peppermint (2018)

Review: Peppermint (2018)
02 Jun
2020
Not in Hall of Fame

Cast:

Jennifer Garner                         Riley North

John Gallagher Jr                       Det. Stan Carmichael

John Ortiz                                 Det. Moises Beltran

Juan Pablo Raba                        Diego Garcia

Annie Ilonzeh                            FBI Agent Lisa Inman

Jeff Hephner                             Chris North

Cailey Fleming                          Carly North

Well, here we are again with a review for the Notinhalloffame.com website, blog section, “Was I entertained”. Even though, it is the end of May and spring is supposed to be here, back home in Canada, we had a cold snap over the weekend so it was time again to try a few different shows. After perusing NETFLIX for a bit and watching another episode of Wentworth (Great show), we decided to put in a film. So, after looking at the stack of unwatched Blu-Ray’s, I grabbed Peppermint (2018) to be the next movie to watch. 

Peppermint stars Jennifer Garner and is Directed by the same director (Pierre Morel) who also was involved with the movie “Taken”. After watching Peppermint, this was really no surprise as the style, dialogue, etc was pretty much the same. Peppermint is a standard revenge flick. It adheres to the formula of likeminded films (i.e. Death Wish, Kill Bill) with no surprises, extremely predictable, and plot holes large enough to drive a Mack Truck through. However, it was still good enough to keep us entertained throughout the film.

Peppermint starts off with a pitched battle in a car between Riley (Garner) and some thug. After getting wounded, she gets the upper hand and manages to dispatch this miscreant and leave the car and corpse behind. The next scene starts 5 years earlier where we find out that she is a young mother with a small child, about 10 years old. Rilery (Garner) and her husband are trying to make ends meet, as all young families do. She works in a bank, and he in garage. However, as tight as the money is they still want to have what’s best for their child. In that light, Chris (Hephner) is approached by a colleague at the garage to be a driver in a planned robbery against the local gang, which is led by Garcia (Raba). After a change of heart, Chris tells his colleague no, and goes out with his wife and child to celebrate the daughter’s birthday. This is especially important as a local PTA villainess has destroyed Carly’s (Fleming) birthday party as a revenge tactic for encroaching on her daughter’s turf for selling cookies at the local mall. Actually pretty pathetic, but I understand that stuff like that happens all the time in some schools.

While at the fair, Garcia’s gang does a drive by and kills both Chris (Hephner) and Carly (Fleming), while leaving Riley (Garner) wounded on the ground, and watching her family die in front of her eyes. Detectives Carmichael (Gallagher) and Beltran (Ortiz) arrive, pick up the pieces and put Riley (Garner) in an ambulance and commence their investigation. 

Riley (Garner) identifies the assailants in a line-up and they are brought to trial. However, because the legal system is so crooked, the killers get off, Riley (Garner) goes crazy and gets subsequently sentenced to a mental hospital for actions. Typical movie justice. En-route to the hospital, Riley (Garner) escapes and goes underground. 

Surfacing 5 years later, Riley is back to extract revenge. She has learned new skills, and can handle a weapon or use her fists with equal dexterity. Bent on a path of revenge she commences to track down each and every person who has wronged her family and exacts her own particular style of justice. Detectives Beltran (Ortiz) and Carmichael (Gallagher) join forces with FBI agent Inman (Ilonzeh) to find out who the vigilante killer is that is hunting down all these ne’er do wells and executing them. Of course, as this is extremely predictable, they figure out it is Riley (Garner) and try to catch her before she can finish what the police force cannot do. I will let you watch the film to get the rest of the story line, but needless to say, this film follows all the formula’s for a film of this genre to bring it to a “no-surprise” ending.

Did we enjoy this film? Did it entertain? I would say yes, even though we knew exactly what would happen throughout most of the film, there were still a few surprises and red-herrings to throw us off a bit along the journey. As with the movie “Taken”, this film was full of action, the odd one liner, and some great fight scenes. Yes, there were plot holes, and a few WTF instances when certain things/events occurred, but they were easily shrugged off as Riley (Garner) caught another person on her list to exact her brand of justice. 

Now to look at the cast. 

Jennifer Garner as Riley North: Garner was in fine form for this film, coming back to action roles from a long hiatus while doing RomComs and family friendly films, Peppermint returned Garner to some of her action roots. The first time I remember watching her in a program was in Alias, where she was an international spy. Alias was an enjoyable tv program that lasted for 5 years and was no doubt instrumental in getting her a part in DareDevil and her own spinoff film, Elektra. While these films were panned critically, I found them enjoyable and full of action. Most importantly, it gave her the basic skills for an action film that were needed in Peppermint. What helped make this movie, was that Garner did her own stunts and fight scenes to add to the realism. There were no “face-fade” scenes where the action star would fight, but the face would be blurred to hide the stunt person. Garner has been in enough action films over the years to learn enough skills to make her action sequences believable (Elektra, Alias, DareDevil). For Garner, revenge was the key motivator throughout the film and it was effectively portrayed. While some of the other characters were lacking in development or motive, hers was strong throughout and kept us interested in what the outcome would be (even though we already surmised what it would be). My only problem with Riley’s(Garner) story in this film was that her back-story was not developed enough. It showed clips of Riley (Garner) learning how to fight hand to hand, but a mastery of automatic weapons was never mentioned. This could have been covered very easily with a montage of her at a range or something. Also, I think a scene or two of her researching where everyone who wronged her family would have helped the plot along as well, she seemed to find everyone to easily. Planning sequences would have helped out the continuity portion of the film.

John Gallagher Jr as Det. Stan Carmichael: He did a fair job as the ideological/burnt out (depending on the scene/time period) detective. It was believable, but not over the top. He projected his own inner turmoil well as he handled the drive-by shooting case. His burn-out, alcoholic tendencies come out later in the film, and you think it is for one reason, only to find out the impetus for these actions were another reason entirely. Well done in my opinion. Having watched him in 10 Cloverfield Lane, Newsroom and now this film, I look forward to other roles that he is in.

John Ortiz as Det. Moises Beltran: Ortiz is a solid supporting actor and has made his career doing just that. In Peppermint, there is no difference to his performance compared to his previous roles. He can be the tormented soul or disheveled policeman at the drop of a hat. In this film, as Carmichael’s partner, he gave us just enough confusion in his role to make it interesting. Was he a good cop, was he crooked, or was he just a coward. The finale of the film will give you the answer and it was actually the only real thing in the film that I did not predict in the end. A good performance that reminds the audience that any star, no matter how big, requires a solid support cast to make a successful film or program. 

Juan Pablo Raba as Diego Garcia: While the antagonist of the film, his screen time was limited and his performance very wooden. I think a good “bad guy” would be more menacing and not be named after an island in the Indian ocean. His whole performance was lackluster and even though he was the main “bad-guy” it could have been played far better. John Leguizamo (Waco, John Wick 2, The Infiltrator) would have been a more menacing character than Raba played here. The character required more dimension and exposure, as well as better back story. Sometimes being the feared drug lord is not enough in a movie, the why, what and how have to be included as well. 

Annie Ilonzeh as FBI Agent Lisa Inman: As a supporting role, Ilonzeh did not do much to add to the overall movie. Her main contribution to the plot was actually to start putting the pieces of Riley’s (Garner) actions together, far ahead of Carmichael and Beltran. While she looked familiar, I actually had to look up what other shows I had seen her in. However, after looking at her resume and remembering her roles (finally), I can see that her roles and talent will only increase in time. 

Overall Peppermint was not a bad film, not great, but entertaining nonetheless. Garner does well in the action genre, delivering solid punches (if you will) and even some good one liners (If you watch the film, remember this when the bitchy PTA mother comes on screen, made for a darkly humorous scene). The plot, while predictable still had the odd twist and turn that will keep you watching till the end. If you can get by these factors, and the odd plot holes then you will enjoy the film.

Rating: 5.5/10

If you are interested in seeing other films with the main cast, consider the following recommendations.

Jennifer Garner             13 going on 30, Alias, Draft Day, Ghosts of Girlfriends past

John Gallagher Jr           Newsroom (Excellent show), 10 Cloverfield Lane

John Ortiz                     Messiah, Kong: Skull Island        

Juan Pablo Raba            The 33  

Annie Ilonzeh                Person of Interest, Arrow, Hatfields and McCoys

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