Only a Mom Will Go This Far.... Peppermint #movie_review

When Riley North’s family is murdered, she finds revenge.
​
Riley North (Jennifer Gardner) is a middle-class mom. One daughter, Carly and her mechanic husband. When her husband considers a job as a get-away driver, he is targeted by the Mexican drug dealers and made an example of on his daughter’s birthday at the Christmas carnival. 

​Riley awakens from a coma to find she’s the only one who survived the drive-by but in a system where the judge, lawyers and even police are corrupt, she doesn’t get justice for her family, until she takes matters into her own hands.

​After going off the grid for five years, stealing cash and guns, Riley re-emerges to kill everyone who was involved in her family’s death. The FBI and local police are out to stop her and the Drug Cartel puts a target on her back. The battle is on.

​Jennifer Gardner returns to her action roots and shows off her physicality in this role, as Riley isn’t above using her fists to get her point across. She knows she’s going to die when this is all said and done but she’ll do anything to end the bad guys first. Directed by the man who did Taken with Liam Neeson, Peppermint feels much like that movie but with a female in the lead.

​The storyline will have to you surprised at times with twists you don’t see coming, especially among the police, and while the movie is predominately about revenge, there are a couple of fun scenes where Jennifer reminds viewers being a mom is at her core. 

​The theater was packed for a Friday morning. The most I've seen at the theater in a while. Occasional cheers were heard as Jennifer got the bad guys. This movie appeals to women who like a strong female lead who isn’t afraid to hurt the people who hurt her family. A couple of ladies at the theater were wondering after the movie if any of their friends could take out a drug cartel. However, the movie takes a lot of hits for its racial tone of bad Mexicans. Yet, there is a diverse cast especially on the law enforcement side.

With the level of violence and death, this isn’t a movie for younger audiences. Fans of Jennifer will enjoy seeing her back in action but the overall storyline is a typical revenge movie. From the first scene, you know who the killer is. But if you are looking for a movie which will remind you not to mess with an angry mom—this is it!