Peppermint 2018

     Riley and Chris North are married, they live in Los Angeles and they have a ten-year-old daughter Carly.  Chris gets an offer from a friend to be a get away driver on a heist.  Riley and Chris are struggling financially and this job would help.  Chris decides it’s too dangerous to try to rob a powerful drug lord and he cancels.  Riley and Chris plan a birthday party for Carly and no one comes?  Another parent has invited the entire class to another birthday party.  Riley and Chris take Carly for pizza and to a carnival where they get ice cream.  Chris’s friend is killed and a hit is taken out on Chris.  Carley and Chris are both killed in a drive by shooting.  Riley is wounded, she recovers and she drops out of sight.  She begins training to gain physical strength plus she starts collecting and stealing an arsenal of weapons.

     I noticed right away the arm muscle development Riley was sporting when she began her drug lord take down mission!!  I thought this was very good with LOTS of action. Riley is not counting how many bullets she needs to use and she’s taking down anyone involved with killing her family.  I would advise Garner’s ex-husband, Ben Affleck to watch his step while Garner is in Riley mode!!  Some of the scenes with the drug lord’s thugs are very funny too.  A lot of reviewers didn’t like the revenge aspect of this film?  4* (I really liked this movie)   

   

101 min, Action directed by Pierre Morel with Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz, Juan Pablo Raba, Annie Ilonzeh, Jeff Hephner, Cailey Fleming, Eddie Shin, Method Man, Tyson Ritter, Ian Casselberry, Richerd Cabral, Johnny Ortiz, Michael Reventar, Kayla-Drew.

Note:  Imdb 6.5 out of 10, Roger Ebert 1*, 12% critic 73% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic 29 out of 100 with 26 critics 6 out of 10 with 72 reviews, RollingStone 1* out of 5* Peter Travers, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 1325 reviews.

Special Note:  Jennifer Garner trained for months in MMA fighting, knife fighting and how to handle firearms.  She uses both handguns and assault rifles plus knives in her role as Riley.  This was filmed during the height of the #MeToo movement.  Garner requested a special changing room instead of changing on the set.  Garner wears a wig in scenes where Riley’s hair is short.  Riley eventually kills 43 people with 5 off-screen kills.