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I think the idea is that Riley is a deeply damaged person who disassociates (and the film sort-of blandly nods to that by revealing Riley is on anti-psychotics early on), which would have been a very interesting character quirk, but they didn't explore it nearly enough. Garner's performance was surprisingly bad, especially coming from someone whose breakout role was as a badass super-spy.
PEPPERMINT MOVIE BASED ON TRUE STORY MOVIE
This movie spent a lot of time telling me that Riley was a badass, juxtaposing other people talking about her very interesting backstory (which probably should have been its own movie) with shots of Jennifer Garner wandering around with a completely bewildered, gormless expression. I could go on, my buddy and I declared that this movie was the laugh riot of the year and I really wished we had seen it in a less packed theater. Then there was when I noticed that the father grabbed the daughter and pointed her towards the gunfire as a human shield, Jennifer Garner simply refused to let go of her ice cream cone even while she was getting lit up, "Why didn't she kill the lady that ruined the birthday party? She's the reason they went to the carnival in the first place." and of course "They went with Peppermint because of her daughter's choice of ice cream flavor?" It also didn't help that my buddy went "Wow, she really is crazy." when they dragged her out of the courtroom, so that was a large contribution to why I had to hold my laughter in for majority of the movie. I lost it at the court scene because I kept picturing this during the scene where she started flipping out at the judge and then immediately tried to attack people in the courtroom right after she was sentenced to mental rehabilitation. So in gratitude, someone paints a gigantic mural of her with a life-like view of her face.
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The most hilarious part of the entire film is how she supposedly is trying to remain anonymous by living amongst the homeless - but she makes a point to rid skid row of crime too. Most of the film is ADR, which is always a giant blinking red light. John Ortiz is wasted, the setup with the mustache twirling defense attorney is never paid off, and Method Man shows up with 15 minutes left, for some strange reason. Whereas Law Abiding Citizen had a clever twist, this is just dumb action with no puzzle to figure out. That's where the similarities end, however. Peppermint even steals the idea of killing a judge with a cell phone activated bomb from LAC, to top it off. 5 years pass, and the main character takes revenge by killing the complicit people one by one. More so than a rip-off of Death Wish or The Punisher, it steals heavily from Law Abiding Citizen: a parent witnesses the brutal murder of their spouse and child, but because of a corrupt legal system, the killers are allowed to go free.
PEPPERMINT MOVIE BASED ON TRUE STORY FREE
When the killers walk free owing to corrupt officials on the cartel's payroll, she takes matters into her own hands and seeks vigilante justice against those who destroyed her life.
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Riley North's husband and daughter are killed in a drive-by shooting, on her daughter's birthday, by members of a cartel. RankingsĬlick here to see rankings for 2018 filmsĬlick here to see rankings for every poll done If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here. If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll.
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