PEPPERMINT

The biggest and greatest cinematic evolution over the last few years is more women and more women of power. Whether it’s Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johannson, Gal Gardot or even the younger generation like Millie Bobby Brown or Dafne Keen, audiences are eating it up and loving it. After so many years of Stallone, Schwarzeneggar and Willis, it was high time for some fresh blood and some extra X chromosomes. The problem is we’ve become so accustomed to a certain level or heroism, badarsery and action that unfortunately ‘Peppermint’ doesn’t make the grade. There are simply too many potential actions set pieces here that are underplayed or glossed over. The setup is there, and you have a star that can pull them off, but director Pierre Morel (‘Taken’, 2008) has choked at the execution. This is, after all, the man who started the ‘Taken’ franchise - we know he knows how to highlight a gun fight, a fist fight and a quest for what’s right. I don’t think I’m being too harsh when I say: we expected more here.

So the setup is nothing new. The domestic working mum turned vengeful mamma bear who can snap your neck in six different places before your body hits the ground, is however. There’s so much potential to have fun with this and go all-out, but the opening is never taken and it ends up being boring. All of Riley’s scenes are dark, moody and really cool-looking, but when it comes to the secondary stories - the cops and the cartel - it’s all too stereotypical and cliché, and really lets the film down both story-wise and through the screenplay - yikes, it’s bad. I think the only thing saving Garner from total embarrassment is that she barely has any dialogue, she just lets her fist and trigger finger so it for her.

At the end of the day, you won’t feel like you’ve wasted an hour and 41 minutes of your life, but you certainly won’t be satisfied.