Follow me at @ScottMendelson and "like" The Ticket Booth on Facebook. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! You will want it to be so, but it is not so. Peppermint Feels Like Two Movies Crammed Together The moral issues of Peppermint are mostly due to the fact that Peppermint plays like two movies in one, forcing the actual movie to skip over what was its closest thing to a satisfying kill and leaving more time for racial stereotypes in the second and third act. Outside the Wire Review: Netflix's Sci-Fi Action Film Has Ludicrous Fun With an Android Anthony Mackie Mackie continues to build his star profile Rent Peppermint (2018) starring Jennifer Garner and John Gallagher Jr. on DVD and Blu-ray. Bad timing can kill a movie that has everything going for it, but the problem with Peppermint isn't so much bad timing as tone deafness on an egregious scale. [The movie] feels rushed, discombobulated, and incomplete. This is not worthy of our time. Review: Peppermint. Riley [Jennifer Garner] might be indestructable, but this movie is DOA. With a colleague chasing promotion and snapping at his heels, deadlines to hit and a boss breathing down his neck, he doesn't need rats tap dancing on his head. I'm talking like John Wick type of killing. She has spent the last 15 years mostly playing love interests and mothers in (among others) The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, The Invention of Lying, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Dallas Buyers Club, Mother’s Day, and Wakefield. President Biden took the oath of office this week. Despite a committed performance by Garner, Peppermint is an extremely forgettable and bland action movie that leaves no impression with the viewer. As far as its existence in terms of Garner’s career, it is almost a tragedy, as we lost 15 years of potentially wonderful rom-coms and action thrillers to an industry that tends to give actresses “one strike” before they are out. Lady Punisher feels like a far-right conservative trojan horse and it's a waste of time. French film director Pierre Morel knows his way around an action film, though... A cool, violent, entertaining-as-hell 75-minute movie with an extra 30 minutes tacked onto the end of it. I read some of their reviews. By Chris Agar Sep 07, 2018. [Jennifer] Garner's performance is very good, so good that you wish you could see it in a better movie. (Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic). Nothing stands out in an era of cinema where audiences are inundated with uniquely creative gun-fu-esque action. It’s a strange pattern, perhaps offering an unwillingness to show a fiery action heroine doing her thing with a husband and kids waiting at home. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. It's not great that the film is essentially "Victimized White Lady Versus The Scary Mexicans," but one does not go to Pierre Morel movies for racial sensitivity or modern-day wokeness (save for maybe District 13). With Alexandra Gray, Mark Jackson, Jacob James Beswick. I have extensively written about all of said subjects for the last 11 years. Review: The White Tiger Is an Audaciously Direct Condemnation of Oppression. I’m old enough to remember when it was a shock to see Willis killed off in the opening act of Henry Cavill’s (theatrically released) The Cold Light of Day. Movie Review Talk: 'The Predator', 'White Boy Rick', and 'Peppermint' Scott Mantz, Matt Atchity, and Andrew Freund take a deep dive into this week's new releases. It uses kernel type – Monolithic (Linux) and supports both 32 bit (i386) and 64 bit (amd64). By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy A title more suited for throw-away viewing on Netflix rather than seeking it out specifically on the big screen, Peppermint is material far beneath [Jennifer Garner]'s talents. The DVD, list-priced $29.99, is selling … The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer. The action felt technically antiquated. Peppermint has a suggested retail price of $34.99 but is available to pre-order from Amazon for $22.99. When Angelina Jolie subbed in for Tom Cruise in Salt, one of the first script changes was to change the respective spouse from a damsel-in-distress to a fridged victim. Three films hitting Netflix this month deliver thrills and drama even though far too many critics dismissed them as unworthy. © 2021 Forbes Media LLC. Ben Affleck recovered from Daredevil, but Elektra ($53 million on a $43 million budget) was a mortal blow to Garner’s career as a leading actress. Jennifer Garner made an unusual turn as a mild-mannered woman who trains herself to be a merciless vigilante who hunts down the members of the gang responsible for her family's deaths in the 2018 thriller Peppermint and it earned her a new wave of fans. My outlets for film criticism, box office commentary, and film-skewing scholarship have included The Huffington Post, Salon, and Film Threat. Jennifer Garner's Peppermint is a reminder that a single flop (Elektra) caused her to spend the next 15 years playing girlfriends, wives and mothers. This Jennifer Garner bomb has received a second life on Netflix. Peppermint Year 2018 Genre Crime Action Drama Thriller Type Movies IDMB rating 6.5 (55747 votes) Netflix rating 6.5 Metacritics rating 29.0 Rotten Tomatoes rating 12.0% Directors Pierre Morel Actors … Review: Beautiful Something Left Behind Celebrates Symbolism as a Salve for Grief. It also expects us to side with Garner as she slaughters the folks within the justice system (prosecutors, judges, etc.) Never mind that Garner had been doing the “action hero” thing since J.J. Abrams’ Alias back in 2001 (along with films like Daredevil, Elektra and The Kingdom). Monash University. [Full review in Spanish]. Singapore. Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password. Ironically, the film’s muddy visuals makes it look less like a glossy Hollywood flick and more like a straight-to-VOD action movie, the kind of which are currently doing quite well by Netflix. … It's just probably not the movie that director Pierre Morel (" Taken," "District B13") and screenwriter Chad St. John intended to make. Peppermint skips ahead five years.Riley returns as a one-woman army ready for revenge. Sean Penn’s The Gunman may be an icky movie in terms of content (Penn stars as a mercenary who indirectly caused a genocide but feels really bad about it), but every penny of its $50 million budget is up on the screen. Peppermint is wildly hypocritical with its fair share of laughably bad moments in the first half, but once those bits subside, it becomes increasingly icky and boring. Directed by Pierre Morel. Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Peppermint’ On Netflix, Jennifer Garner Needs No Alias As A Vigilante Mom On A Vengeance Killing Mission. Of course you do. I've studied the film industry, both academically and informally, and with an emphasis in box office analysis, for nearly 30 years. It's the sort of picture that would have been boffo on a … 0. There’s a certain cruel irony in the very existence of STX and Lakeshore’s Peppermint. Latest News. There is a distinct impression that Garner's avenger is slaughtering judges and lawyers purely because she didn't like the outcome, as if they are automatically “enemies of the people.” Law Abiding Citizen did the same thing, but that film allowed Gerald Butler's sympathetic vigilante to be the film's outright villain. It has recently release Peppermint 9 at 22 June 2018. The strangest thing about Peppermint is that Garner is very bad in it. Film Review: ‘Peppermint’ ... Netflix Buys Lord and Miller Animated Film ‘The Mitchells vs. LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 28: Jennifer Garner arrives to the Los Angeles premiere of STX ... [+] Entertainment's "Peppermint" held at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14 on August 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. The top-ranked movie of the moment is Ryan Phillippe’s “Die Hard in an empty college campus” actioner The 2nd (a film technically concerning the politics of gun ownership but seemingly unwilling to espouse an opinion about it), while last week’s list made room for Hard Kill, one of Bruce Willis’ 16 (at least) VOD actioners since 2011 where the star essentially cameos in someone else’s adventure for the sake of an easy paycheck. Directed by Stephan Drury. A waste of Garner's talent. Do you want to see Jennifer Garner be a bad ass for 90 minutes or not? Don't have an account? For the average moviegoer or for fans of Jennifer Garner Peppermint doesn't go far enough to offer a worthwhile experience. I start all movies out 10/10 Bob Davis' Jennifer Garner -7 Somewhat unoriginal plot -2 Movie title -4 So now we're at -3/10 Bob Davis' within the first 15 minutes. Peppermint Review. Pierre Morel’s EuroCorp actioners (District 13, Taken, From Paris With Love, The Gunman) tend to look relatively gorgeous. who allowed her family’s killers to go free. Jennifer Garner kicks butt in a modest, effective revenge thriller with some disturbing subtext. And MAN is this struggle against a one-woman army a LOT of fun to witness. Peppermint (2018) is easily the most controversial of the bunch. Five years after her husband and daughter are killed in a senseless act of violence, a woman comes back from self-imposed exile to seek revenge against those responsible and … It's a straight forward action film that feels like a showcase for Jennifer Garner. 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An odious would-be thriller that somehow manages to come across as both wildly offensive and incredibly boring. Easy on the Stomach (Peppermint Review) Peppermint is not really a complex film. and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. I’m not sure why execs thought seeing Jolie’s husband being kidnapped and shot was less emasculating than seeing him kidnapped and rescued, but I digress. Peppermint doesn’t live or die by its politics, but rather its “cut to ribbons” structure, its unpleasant visual palette and a screenplay so thin that Garner delivers, for the first time ever, a bad performance. In a classic case of gender-based double standards, the failure of Elektra (a sloppily-slapped together spin-off from Ben Affleck’s not-exactly-beloved Daredevil) in 2005 was essentially the end of Garner’s career as a major studio lead. The second strangest thing about the 2018 flop actioner ($54 million worldwide on a $25 million budget, although domestic distributor STX surely made out just fine) is that its exceptionally ugly. The story does not take enough time to develop characters you should care about but, instead, they feel like plot devices in order to motivate Jennifer Garner to get revenge. At least now we can say Jennifer Garner has made a worse film than Elektra. Its current momentary popularity on Netflix shows that the streaming platform is both a place for esteemed Oscar contenders (like this week’s Mank) and the newfangled “direct to video” or “discount bin” for unsuccessful studio programmers. The sets are boring. Action movies are almost never boring. Peppermint Review: Jennifer Garner Can't Save Bland Action Romp. Comment. All rights reserved. Like almost every female-led actioner over the last decade, Peppermint overdoses on gloom and guilt, neglecting to let its “bad-ass female action hero” have any fun with her death-dealing ways. Are there underlying messages? Maybe next time. Sign up here. I've studied the film industry, both academically and informally, and with an emphasis in box office analysis, for nearly 30 years. [Full Review in Spanish]. Sebastian can't sleep. If it were a better movie, its politics wouldn’t be a deal breaker. I have extensively written about all. Copyright © Fandango. Peppermint was just her third vehicle since that superhero flop, following the romantic dramedy Catch and Release in 2006, the indie Butter in 2011 and the faith-based Miracles From Heaven in 2016. ... Here’s what’s new to Netflix and new to Amazon, HBO Max, Hulu and more this month. Peppermint didn't exactly set the box office on fire after debuting in theaters to generally negative reviews in September 2018. Peppermint OS is an open source Unix-like OS, the first release on 9 May 2010. Peppermint lacks subtlety and anything even remotely resembling credibility, but like its heroine, it certainly gets the job done. Meanwhile, Affleck got a gold-starred comeback narrative and a (deservedly) Oscar-winning directorial career. It was packaged and sold as Jennifer Garner’s “turn” in the realm of “unlikely” older actors playing “out for a kill,” revenge-seeking action heroes. Get unlimited DVD Movies & TV Shows delivered to your door with no … Parents need to know that Peppermint is a revenge action thriller that centers on a grieving and determined wife/mother named Riley North (Jennifer Garner).Riley watched her husband and daughter get gunned down by gang members who were never convicted for their crimes; five years later, she returns to Los Angeles with one goal: to kill every man she holds responsible for her family's murder. Peppermint is wildly hypocritical with its fair share of laughably bad moments in the first half, but once those bits subside, it becomes increasingly icky and boring. Share Share Tweet Email. Interview: Glenn Close on Hillbilly Elegy and Respecting the Vance Family’s Plight. Because Taken, But With A Woman" wouldn't fit on the marquee. Bet they're a nightmare. You may opt-out by, Entertainment's "Peppermint" held at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14 on August 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Sidney Poitier’s 7 Most Memorable Performances, All Harry Potter Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer. There's a morbidly hilarious dark comedy buried not-so-deep inside the lousy revenge thriller "Peppermint." Forgot your password? Rats keeping you up? There's not much new material here, just fresh outrage to mine from the movie-going public. Film. Check out the official Peppermint trailer starring Jennifer Garner! Review: ‘Peppermint’ Is Neither Sweet Nor Good. Like Blake Lively’s (pretty good) The Rhythm Section and Zoe Saldana’s (halfway decent) Colombiana, Garner’s heroine has to lose her entire family before she can go into butt-kicking mode. Let us know what you think in the comments below. The movie doesn’t waste any time on the years Riley went missing, which works to its favor. ... Netflix's Mercy Black Review. The film is rather icky in terms of its politics. With Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., John Ortiz, Juan Pablo Raba. Peppermint opened to six straight days in first place before relinquishing its top spot to Ava. Then she takes revenge and kills everyone. To be fair, she’s excellent in these movies, offering a real authenticity and emotional oomph for the likes of Love, Simon and Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible No Good, Very Bad Day. Operates on the most basic, unoriginal, uninspired revenge fantasy design, so that it rarely feels like anything other than a remake of overly familiar vigilante epics. The Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now. The sub-genre, which was (in the modern sense) created by Denzel Washington’s Man on Fire in 2004, popularized by Liam Neeson’s Taken in 2009 and perfected by Keanu Reeves’ John Wick in 2014, became a way for “very serious actors” like Kevin Costner, John Travolta and Sean Penn to indulge in their inner action hero, with a dash of post-9/11 topicality and political, uh, “nuance” thrown in for good measure. IGN's Game of the Year 2020. Jennifer Garner is the saving grace of Peppermint, but even her performance isn't enough to prevent this from being a 'here today, gone tomorrow' kind of film. and the Terms and Policies, It's almost as if this movie wants to be one. 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