PEPPERMINT Review

PEPPERMINT

FILM REVIEW BY FIORE

Generally, when Hollywood attempts to insert women into traditional male roles to be politically correct, it fails miserably.  Can you say GHOSTBUSTERS?  Sometimes, however, they do get it right.

With so many male action heroes, Tinseltown decided, in order to play fair, women should be action heroes, too.  Outside of WONDER WOMAN, because she is a superhero, those attempts have failed.  One that succeeded was ATOMIC BLONDE with Charlize Theron.  It worked because the producers hired the crew from JOHN WICK to handle production.  They made Theron look realistic, and avoided the unrealistical tossing around of 300 pound men by a ninety pound princess.

When STX Films wanted to make Jennifer Garner an action film star, they hired the folks behind TAKEN.  That movie revitalized Liam Neeson’s career and made him a box office star.  PEPPERMINT could do the same for Garner.  The film offers nothing new.  It’s a standard revenge action film, with a female lead where you would normally see Jason Statham, but he is currently busy battling giant sharks.   The pace is swift enough to not notice the inconsistencies.  For fans of the action genre, PEPPERMINT will be a nice addition.  

Jennifer plays Riley North.  She witnesses the erroneous drive by shooting of her husband and daughter.  When the justice system fails to prosecute the perpetrators, she falls off the grid for five years.  During that time, she trains as a mercenary and Muay Thai fighter.  When she returns, she’s loaded for bear and the mayhem begins.

Action film fans will recognize PEPPERMINT’s nod to Chinese revenge films as the first of Riley’s victims are strung up on a Ferris wheel, much like the antagonists were hanged from telephone poles in Bruce Lee films.  Riley’s revenge is satiated within the confines of the second reel.  The rest of the film is filled with the aftermath of the killings, and Riley eventually tracking the main drug lord behind the cartel. 

Technically, Armorer Ian Kay is to be commended for selecting a noteworthy collection of weapons in the celluloid carnage.  Some small-minded critics are already criticizing Kay and the producers for the amount of guns in the film, especially during this current progressive charge politically to eradicate the Second Amendment.  Taking guns out of a revenge action film is like filming JURASSIC WORLD with no dinosaurs.  Pay no attention to these nimrods.  They are what is wrong with the film industry.  

 

Smartly, the script by Chad St. John has Riley shooting the majority of her victims, avoiding hand to hand combat scenes which no actress can make believable, outside of Gina Carano.  There is also a little used collision montage during the drive-by scene which spawns Riley retribution.  This is a rare cinematic event, the most memorable involving Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in ROAD TO PERDITION.  

All told, PEPPERMINT is a template revenge action film.  It’s done well, and Jennifer pulls off the role of Riley mainly because she is not a runway model afraid to break a nail.  I believe she could get down and dirty and shoot up the place.  I think you will, too.