我们都应该有一个母亲致力于血腥vengeance as Riley North, the vigilante played by Jennifer Garner in “Peppermint.”
It’s not enough to just dedicate her life to taking down the cartel that killed her daughter. She spends five years in Europe learning to become a brutal killer – think about it, she missed the entire Golden State Warriors championship run — then lives in a van filled with guns and medical supplies on skid row.
(We never see any food. Let’s just assume North stays nourished on the blood of her victims.)
The new action film by Pierre Morel, director of the 2008 classic “Taken,” makes the earlier revenge fantasy look like a Ken Burns documentary. Riley North survives more brutal wounds, explosions and falls from great heights than Ryan Reynolds in the “Deadpool” sequel.
And yet it’s all very satisfying, in a visceral way, like the feeling you get after finding the housefly that’s been buzzing around your head since three in the morning and crushing it with a rolled-up Sporting Green. Through a stellar effort by Jennifer Garner and some well-executed revenge sequences, “Peppermint” just feels good to watch.
The film is almost too devastating for escapist entertainment. Sure, Liam Neeson’s teen daughter in “Taken” got kidnapped, nearly sold in the international sex trade and hooked on heroin. But at least she survived. North’s adorable young daughter gets gunned down in the first 15 minutes, and then her killers are freed by a corrupt justice system.
Writing is the greatest enemy of “Peppermint.” There’s an awkward nonlinear storytelling approach that foolishly robs us of the revenge we want to see the most. North’s soliloquies all kind of run together, with no ultra-rousing “I do have a particular set of skills” moment in the film.
But Garner sells the hell out of the role with her eyes and body language, especially her most crushing and humiliating low in the courtroom scene. From that point, bad filmmaking or good, you’re with Riley North for the rest of the ride.
“Peppermint” often feels like a slightly diminished “The Equalizer” sequel, focusing on the rooting interest of the lead as much as the action scenes. Shootouts can feel routine, with no real plan or ingenuity, as the bad guys stumble into another ambush. But Garner amplifies a unique maternal element in the role, even when she’s executing gangbangers with no hesitation.
Girl Scout politics make their way into the plot. And it’s a nice mom touch – we’re betting improvised by Garner – when she boosts a car but still carefully puts on her seat belt. Hopefully no one under 14 is seeing this ultra-brutal R-rated movie. But if they are, auto safety is being reinforced.
We’ll end with some criticisms of the cartel, a horrific Nachos BellGrande of Mexican stereotypes that blends slick cartel leaders, in open-collar shirts and gold chains, with henchmen who look like MS-13 gang members. But the makers of “Peppermint” ward off any conservative political fantasies by highlighting the growing gap between the poor and rich, and building North into a sort of tent city Robin Hood.
Like everything else in “Peppermint,” the political discussion is mostly drowned out by gunfire.
LPeppermint:Action drama. Starring Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr. and John Ortiz. Directed by Pierre Morel. (R. 102 minutes.)Trailer and Showtimes