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PEPPERMINT: A Failed Vigilante In Feminity

PEPPERMINT: A Failed Vigilante In Feminity

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PEPPERMINT: A Failed Vigilante in Feminity

The idea of vigilantes has become one of the most antiquated storylines in Hollywood. The Punisher, Batman, and Taken are just a few of these films that have found their way to the big screen, each with their own level of success.While some excel in their execution, others have floundered under the weight of the clichés they have attempted to portray. Originality is key to keeping this trope fresh and intriguing. Sadly, director Pierre Morel‘s Peppermint is not one of them.

A Bittersweet Flavor

The title Peppermint is derived from the flavor of ice cream our lead protagonist Riley North (Jennifer Garner) purchases for her daughter Carly (Cailey Fleming), just before her family is gunned down by the local cartel with their own vendetta against her husband (Jeff Hephner). While he did not go through with it, her husband Chris had conspired with a friend to steal from the local cartel, ensuring financial survival and success for his family – with only the thought of theft sealing his family’s fate. Even before the gunshots ring out, viewers are plunged into a bleak look at a family who is suffering financially and socially – especially when it is revealed that no one showed up for her daughter’s birthday party due to a spiteful power play by a local den mother.

PEPPERMINT: A Failed Vigilante in Feminity
source: STX Films

There are a lot of people wanting revenge in some form within Peppermint. While it had the potential to heighten the depth and dynamic of its characters and storyline, unfortunately it chips away from the focal point of Riley North. She is the vigilante seeking justice in the form she sees fit, yet viewers are forced to consider the revenge of those around her.

Following the death of her family, a failed attempt at persecuting the individuals responsible, and a blatant abuse of power and corruption within the highest capacity of the law, Riley disappears without a trace, with only a few minor leads to her whereabouts popping up over the next five years. When she returns, she is a lethal fighter, stealthy and capable of practically anything. As the FBI tries to understand how a morally just woman turns vigilante, they find themselves stuck, unable to accept that such an abrupt change could happen to a person. It is important to note that the film contradicts this moment, as there is a display of escalation in her behavior prior to her return. She robs a bank just before disappearing, prompting an APB. Video can be found of her training in a Fight Club-esq environment, building up a lethal repertoire of combative moves. Couple this with a raid on an armory warehouse and murder, and we have a vigilante with escalating aggression.

A Failed Vigilante

This was not a resonating feature within the film, this escalation, this slow and meticulous rise to vigilante murderer. There was a corrupt undertone within Riley that constantly lays quiet, waiting for someone to acknowledge its presence, which takes away from the validity and acceptance of the vigilante. This betrays viewers, a whispering voice that cannot be silenced, even as you watch her. I guess the biggest issue here, and it took me awhile before I could understand why it felt so off, was the display of this woman as a vigilante – not because she is a woman, but because of the way she is portrayed. For a majority of Peppermint, she was depleted of her humanity, motherhood and good nature. Unlike previous vigilantes, specifically Batman whose vigilante behaviors were impactful without murder and a violation of a moral code, Riley had to violate every code that she previously had. She gave up her identity and her morals, her values and her virtues. Only then could she be a vigilante – she was not allowed to have both.

PEPPERMINT: A Failed Vigilante in Feminity
source: STX Films

There are moments where her past self seeps through, though mostly only with regards to children. If it wasn’t her daughter that had been slain, I do believe that she would have lost that last bit of humanity within her. It was sad to see that a woman could only become what men had always been by degrading herself to the same level of those she was out to punish. Batman never truly faltered on his beliefs and morals, even when he was looking into the eyes of the Joker, knowing that holding steadfast could endanger the lives of many. He knew this was the only way to do good and to be the personification of good. Yet Riley, even in the final moments, cannot stop the violation of her moral code, even with a steadfast change in the air.

Introduction and transition

It was difficult as a viewer to immediately be introduced to Riley North, already the vigilante before there is a chance to build the emotional connection with her that would have allowed viewers to be more sympathetic of her plights and the lengths that she felt she needed to reach to achieve her mission. I may have had a better view of her as a vigilante if I had been allowed this emotional connection. Sadly, the decision to show her first murder in the opening scenes immediately disengages, and she seems no better than the man she is killing. It also leaves the question: is she still preparing to return to seek revenge or is this the individual with whom she has returned for? You do not know the man she has killed, as you do not know their story or previous interactions.

If you were already feeling disconnected with the character you are suppose to empathize and root for, the transitions between scenes will only heighten this disconnect. They are scratchy, rough and disconcerting. While watching, it was impossible to get movies like Saw and Hostel out of my mind, the transitions eerily similar in many cases. The transitions, usually when her character was on screen, only brought thoughts of Jigsaw, murder and violence deepening the inability to connect to the character properly. I should not be thinking of serial killers when a vigilante, attempting to correct the wrongs of Skid row and the justice system, is present on screen. The only time I can honestly say it was effective was in the final moments of Peppermint.

PEPPERMINT: A Failed Vigilante in Feminity
source: STX Films

There was a very nice structure, though, on the part each character was designed to play, even if we did not know their true nature until the end. It was crafty and will leave viewers questioning not only the true intentions of some but the comparable behaviors of others. Unfortunately, this is overshadowed by the film’s major flaws, resulting in many of these characters becoming easily forgotten.

Conclusion: Peppermint

This was a film I was excited for, to see Jennifer Garner back in form, Alias on the big screen in a sense. I was also excited for the chance to see a female vigilante hold her own and bring everything she had to right a wrong. Disappointingly, I was left with a film that felt thrown together, poorly edited and overly clichéd. While she was as lethal as the male vigilantes before her, it was sad to see what a woman would have to sacrifice to be equal to her male counterparts. Can she not be more?

What did you think of Peppermint? Do you think it flounders on its attempt to present a female vigilante? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Peppermint was released in the US on September 7, 2018. For all international release dates, see here.

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