![]() The filmmakers seem to be going for complexity, but because of the lack of nuance everywhere else, they wind up with something that feels a little like that “Leading Lady” short making the rounds right now. She’s an unstoppable lethal force, but she cries herself to sleep she’s ready to die, but seems afraid and vulnerable during her hair’s-breadth escapes. The glimpses we get of Riley’s overseas education in combat are unintentionally hilarious the ease with which Riley keeps infiltrating the drug operation is hard to buy her savior status on Skid Row is so bluntly stated as to be cartoonish.įurthermore, despite Garner’s best efforts, there are contradictions in Riley that don’t give her depth, but rather just don’t add up. Meanwhile, the LAPD and the FBI try to figure out where this vigilante might strike next.Īll political considerations aside, there are too many absurdities in PEPPERMINT for us to take it seriously, but no actual sense of humor to put those elements in a serviceable context. Five years later, after learning all sorts of useful and lethal skills abroad, Riley returns to Los Angeles, determined to take out everyone responsible for what happened. A bench trial of the three gunmen Riley identifies results in no conviction (see above). drug lord Diego Garcia (Juan Pablo Raba) has tragic results.Ĭhris and Carly are killed Riley is shot in the head, but lives. Chris backs out before anything happens, but even a rumor of crossing L.A. Unbeknownst to Riley, Chris contemplates helping a friend commit a crime. Riley is a bank branch worker, happily married to mechanic Chris (Jeff Hephner) and loving mom of spunky eight-year-old Carly (Cailey Fleming). Then she retreats to the back of a van parked on Skid Row in Los Angeles to patch herself up. When we meet Garner’s Riley North, she’s in the process of shooting a man to death, then lugging his body out of a car. So is our hero’s snap decision that everyone, including judge and prosecutors, involved in the courtroom acquittal of three killers is corrupt and worthy of execution. Latin culture (even piñatas – come on!) with amorality is pretty icky. Even though there are a couple of Latinx people on the side of the angels, and a couple of white baddies in the mix, the conflation of L.A. On the flip side, we’ve got a suburban white woman wiping out a bunch of evil (and largely incompetent) Latino men. ![]() There’s plenty of violence and bloodshed, but nary a whisper of rape, and this as much as anything will make a lot of prospective viewers want to give PEPPERMINT a chance. The pleasingly unexpected twist within the twist is that there is no sexual violence, nor even harassment. The twist in this case is that instead of Charles Bronson or Liam Neeson, the perfectly nice person is played by Jennifer Garner. PEPPERMINT has a premise that has powered many films before it: perfectly nice person loses family to a mob hit and reinvents self as a steely avenger. If PEPPERMINT isn’t the single worst title for a would-be gritty action revenge drama, it’s got to be high in the running. The first hint of this problem can be seen in the title. ![]() PEPPERMINT knows what kind of movie it wants to be, it just has trouble achieving it. Stars: Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz, Juan Pablo Raba, Annie Ilonzeh, Jeff Hephner, Cailey Fleming, Eddie Shin, Cliff “Method Man” Smith PEPPERMINT movie poster | ©2018 STX Entertainment ![]()
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