In Peppermint, a revenge movie about a housewife who takes on a drug cartel who murdered her husband and daughter, there is a lot of Jennifer Garner in kick ass mode but no Alias homages. That’s a shame because this revenge thriller needed some serious winking to lift it above tired Hispanic gang stereotypes and trite action movie cliches. Jennifer Garner in grim determination mode doesn’t look any more dangerous than her real life self fighting through paparazzi to pick up her kids from school.
Peppermint is a slough because it doesn’t even bother to deliver beyond the usual beats. It is grim, deadly and straight. Peppermint doesn’t want to have fun.
Jennifer Garner is at her best when she plays off herself, when she is Sydney Bristow, not when she’s the vanilla mommy. Peppermint was probably about as much fun for Garner to do as it was for her to drive Ben Affleck to rehab.
Peppermint needs to be Elektra-fying. Instead it is just another September release muff.
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