Movie Time: Peppermint

 It’s….Movie Time! 

Since tomorrow is Mother’s Day, today’s movie post is about a movie I happened to catch on television several months ago about a mom on a mission. 

 

Is it a movie about the warm kindness and caring gentleness that only a mother can give? ❤❤❤

 

No, this is a mama going batshit violent on a quest for vengeance against those who killed her family! 💢💢💢

 

From 2018, it’s Peppermint and it stars that woman from the Capital One credit card commercials, Jennifer Garner.

 Riley North is a vigilante on a mission of revenge.  She didn’t ask for this.

 

Five years ago, she was a wife and mother to 10 year old girl, as well as holding down a bank job.  Her husband Chris owned a mechanic shop that was flailing.

 

They needed money and a friend of Chris suggested they could get some by robbing drug lord Diego Garcia.

 

Chris and Riley needed money but not bad enough to cross a drug lord like Diego Garcia.  So Chris passed on the deal.

 

But Garcia doesn’t know or care that Chris is NOT going to rob him now and decides to make an example of him for enen thinking about it. 💣

 

After an evening out for pizza and going to a carnival, the North family is targeted by Garcia’s thugs in a drive by shooting that leaves Riley severely wounded and her husband and daughter dead.😧

Riley can I.D. the shooters but damn! There is a LOT of bullshit arrayed against her.

The cops don't wanna take on Diego Garcia because the last cops who went after him wound up dead.🙈🙉🙊

Not to mention who knows which cops are on Garcia's payroll.

Riley still insists on testifying against the shooters but Garcia's lawyer discredits Riley as a credible witness. 

And the judge who is in Garcia's pocket dismissed the case due to a "lack of evidence".

Which causes Riley to lose her shit and attacks the killers in court which gives the judge an excuse to order Riley be put under a psychiatric hold. 😢

Well, you know how women get hysterical over the slightest thing like having a drug cartel murder her husband and daughter. 

While being transported to a psychiatric hospital, Riley North escapes and vanishes.

Five years later...

Certain people start dying. 

Diego Garcia's henchmen who shot Riley's family? DEAD! 

The henchmen's attorney? DEAD!

The corrupt prosecutor? DEAD! 

The corrupt judge? DEAD!

Riley North is back in town. 😠😠😠😠

Riley's living in a van down on Skid Row, loaded up with stolen weapons.  In addition to her quest for vengeance against Diego Garcia's drug cartel, she's been interventing to help protect the poor people on Skid Row.  They view Riley as a guardian angel, keepong them safe.

The cops go to the media to put out the word about Riley North: she's armed, she's dangerous, everyone beware! 

She's a hysterical woman! Watch out! 😡

Riley's media exposure causes some debate in the city. Some people see her as a murderous threat, breaking the law.  For others, Riley has become a cause célèbre for her one woman war against a viscious drug gang and the corrupt officials in their employ.  

For Riley, she has one goal. For each corrupt authority figure and feach criminal thug she kills, she's tightening the circle around Diego Garcia.  

The engame is putting an end to the monster himself. 

Riley's journey to her ultimate revenge is brutal.  As she eliminates target after target, she takes a lot of damage, broken, bruised, bloodied. 

And Diego Garcia is pushing back against Riley with a army arrayed against her.

Garcia sets up a trap for Riley.

Riley decides to walk into it, all the better to put a bullet in this motherfucker's brain.

But first she makes a phone call.

Media outlets throughout the city know where Riley North is gonna be.

Riley North vs. Diego Garcia.  The press and the police will have a front row seat.💥💥💥

Diego thinks the odds are in his favor.  He's bigger, meaner, stronger and he has a fully armed army at his command. 

And Riley is just one woman. 

She's also a mother who is holding on to a lot of rage over what Diego Garcia did to her family.

Advantage: Riley North.

Riley shoots Diego in the head.

Even though surrounded by police, Riley pulls a Batman and vanishes.   

She's ultimately found at her family's gravesite, bleeding out, ready to die.  

Riley's arrested for all the murders she did and taken to the hospital despite her protests, saying she is ready to die now.

But a police detective who was NOT on Diego Garcia's payroll helps her escape from the hospital and we have reach the end.

The blessed merciful end.

Oh, dear Lord, this movie! 😩

Peppermint is so ladened down with cliches and thread bare tropes.

All we're missing is "it was a dark and stormy night!" 

Diego Garcia is the overworn archetype of the Mexican drug lord, right down to his name.  Gee, did someone put a bunch of Hispanic type names in a hat and randomly drew "Garcia" and "Diego"?  

Credit where credit is due.  Jennifer Garner delivers a strong and ferocious performance as Riley North. I know we're so used to her gentle nature in those Capitol One ads, it's easy to forget what she's capable of.   

The Golden Rasberry Awards disagreed with me, nominating Garner for "Worst Actress" at their 2019 awards.   Fuck them! What do they know? 🙍

Hey, why is this movie called Peppermint?  It's the flavor of ice-cream Riley's daughter was eating when she was murdered.  It's also the alias Riley uses when she starts her quest for revenge. Mostly, everyone knows it's Riley and just calls her that. 

When the movie was released in South Korea, it was called I Am Mother. 💔

But Garner is too good for this slight 1980's throwback revenge flick.   And I am not alone in this assessment.

  

Rotten Tomatoes:  13% approval rating of 13% and an average rating of 3.6 out of 10. 

Metacritic:  score of 29 out of 100.

Audiences polled by CinemaScore were a bit kinder, giving the film an average grade of "B+".

Peppermint may be lacking in originality and anything resembling nuance but I suppose if you need to turn your brain off and watch corrupted authority figures and crass criminals get theirs in the most violent way possible, there are worse ways than spending time with Jennifer Garner doling out some righteous revenge.

Like a good seriously jacked, gun wielding mother would.

Happy Mother's Day! ❤❤❤❤