Peppermint Blu Ray Review (Universal)

Peppermint is a 2018 action film directed by Pierre Morel (District B13, Taken, From Paris with Love, & The Gunman). It was written by Chad St. John (London Has Fallen, Replicas, & My Own Worst Enemy). It was produced by STXfilms & Lakeshore Entertainment. The budget was $25 million & it grossed $51.5 million worldwide at the box office. 5 years earlier, Riley North (played by: Jennifer Garner from Alias, Daredevil, Elektra, & Dallas Buyers Club) is working as a banker in Los Angeles struggling to make ends meet. Her husband Chris (played by: Jeff Hephner from Boss, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, & Mars) owns a struggling mechanic shop. They have a 10 year old daughter together named Carly (played by: Cailey Fleming from The Walking Dead, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, & Better Things). One of Chris’s associates tries to get him to help him rob drug lord Diego Garcia (played by: Juan Pablo Raba from Narcos, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Shot Caller, & The 33). Chris needs the money but he turns him down for the dangerous job. Diego finds out that he was involved with the plan & tells his gang to make an example of out of the wheel man. Riley & Chris take Carly out for her birthday since their original party got ruined. Diego’s men do a drive by on the family at the carnival & only Riley survives the massacre.

Detective Stan Carmichael (played by: John Gallagher Jr. from The Belko Experiment, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Newsroom, & Jonah Hex) asks Riley if she can identify the criminals & she picks them all out in a line up. Detective Moises Beltran (played by: John Ortiz from The Cloverfield Paradox, Kong: Skull Island, Silver Linings Playbook, & American Gangster) warns Carmichael about the last officer that got too close to Diego. Riley refuses a bribe from lawyer Henderson (played by: Michael Mosley from Ozark, Fear the Walking Dead, Scrubs, & Sirens). The corrupt Judge Stevens (played by: Jeff Harlan from the McBride series, The Boogens, & Auto Focus) drops the case & let’s the killers go free. Riley loses it in the courtroom & gets into serious trouble after escaping them trying to lock her up in the mental hospital after her violent outburst. On the anniversary of her family’s death, she returns home & gets revenge on everyone who did her wrong. FBI agent Lisa Inman (played by: Annie Ilonzeh from All Eyez on Me, Chicago Fire, Arrow, & Person of Interest) is put on the case with Detectives Carmichael & Beltran. They try to stop the vigilante before it gets too known but they can’t control social media who puts Riley North as a hero trying to stop crime & get vengeance for her fallen family. Diego sees everyone involved in the massacre get taken out by the dangerous woman begins to increase his protection & sends others to find his new found rival. These two brutal individuals end up in a confrontation where no one will forget it’s aftermath!!!!

Peppermint was definitely better than expected. The revenge sub genre has been resurrected thanks to the popularity of the Taken & John Wick franchises. It has spawned a decent amount of similar flicks like Death Wish remake, Revenge, The Villainess, Death Kiss, The Salvation, I Am Wrath, Darkland, & many others.  This wasn’t made to flex their acting chops but Jennifer Garner gives one of her best performances here. The changes her character goes through makes you really root for her. She hasn’t done an action flick for a long time now but she never misses a beat in this. She’s back to being the bad ass female that you remembered from past projects. She has a real solid supporting cast that elevates the overall production. It’s loaded with action, so much gunfire & explosions featured in this. It has some brutal & dark moments also which is nice for a bigger film like Peppermint. It’s one of the most entertaining & fun experiences of 2018, RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Universal!  This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer really stands out especially the Skid Row  location. It’s one of the better looking action flicks from this year. The English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track sounds awesome here, the dialogue is very clean & all the action moments have a nice boost to them. It’s full of them so it almost feels like being in the theater for this one. Lots of gunfire & explosions on this production. It also has English SDH & Spanish subtitles.

Let’s discuss the special features from Universal on this release! “Audio Commentary” with director Pierre Morel. He talks about wanting to capture Los Angeles as the primary location. He chats about the changes the Riley North character goes through in this. He brings up some of the main characters & actors in this, he discusses working with them on this project. He mentions the sound mixing process for this. He brings up making suggestions to the writer & changing some stuff during for the production. He says Jennifer went through lots of training for this role. He talks about using real news anchors for the social media & broadcast parts. He chats about the final confrontation & build up for it. Most of the track is a scene by scene, it has a nice flow to it. “Justice” is a little over 2 minute promotional feature. It has interviews with director Pierre Morel & lead actor Jennifer Garner. They talk about the film. They chat about the training & stunts for the project. Jennifer Garner says that she’s never done anything like this before. It also comes with a slipcover, digital code, & a DVD copy of the release. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!