"Peppermint" Movie Review #2

With a gun in the mouth of a neglectful alcoholic father on the floor of a liquor store, Riley North played expertly by Jennifer Garner proclaims "This is is one of those life-altering moments," as she lists things he's going to do with his son for the holidays instead of being constantly drunk.

This is the kind of person Riley has become in Peppermint after loosing her own daughter: aggressive, gritty, and maybe even a little insane, but constantly in pursuit of justice and making what's wrong right. Garner transforms her upstanding and devoted character into a militant badass when a corrupt justice system fails to prosecute the men that gunned down her husband and daughter, embracing an intense, single-minded vigilante lifestyle. In true John Wick form, she relentlessly combats her way up the ranks of the gang that nobody else has the guts to confront.

But life altering, this movie is not. Garner does her damnedest to make it entertaining, and it's ultimately her performance that does the heavy lifting. The rest of the movie movie comes off as a blah action film, marching to the standard beats of action cinema. We're just fortunate that it's Garner who is beating the cadence.

Acting and Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 1 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 2 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 1 | What does this mean?