What would happen if you takeJennifer Garner, pair her up with the dude who directedTakenand basically turned her into The Punisher? The first trailer forPeppermintis here to answer that question. This may not be something you knew you wanted, but it may well be something you’re interested in after seeing the trailer, as Garner makes a strong case for becoming an action star. Enough time has passed for us to forgetElektra.
The trailer seems to borrow a lot from thePunishermovie that starred Thomas Jane as the titular Marvel hero. We see Jennifer Garner’s family gunned down in similar fashion and she emerges years later to exact her vengeance on the criminals responsible. There are also elements of Eli Roth’s recentDeath Wishremake here, with a regular citizen cleaning up the streets and public opinion on her side. Not everything here looks completely amazing, as there are certainly some melodramatic elements at play, but this seems like the kind of movie that could sneak up on us this fall. After all,John Wickcame out of nowhere. Why can’tPeppermintdo the same?
Peppermintis an action thriller which tells the story of young mother Riley North (Jennifer Garner) who awakens from a coma after her husband and daughter arekilled in a brutal attackon the family. When the system frustratingly shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself from citizen to urban guerilla. Channeling her frustration into personal motivation, she spends years in hiding honing her mind, body and spirit to become an unstoppable force, eluding the underworld, the LAPD and the FBI, as she methodically delivers her personal brand of justice.
The movie comes fromdirector Pierre Morel. He’s the man responsible for turning Liam Neeson into an action star withTaken. He didn’t direct either of the unfortunate sequels, but he also hasn’t directed anything worth bragging about in the decade since, with movies likeFrom Paris With LoveandThe Gunmanunder his belt. Maybe getting back to hisrevenge-drivenaction roots will be the thing that turns it around. Morel directs from a script by Chad St. John (London Has Fallen). As it happens, St. John is the man who wrote the 2012 unofficialPunishershortDirty Laundrythat brought Thomas Jane back and was received quite well by fans. So the fact that there are parallels here isn’t so surprising.
The cast includes Jennifer Garner, John Ortiz, John Gallagher Jr., Juan Pablo Raba. The action flick is set to arrive in theaters on September 7. That’s something of an odd time. It’s either where studios dump their garbage or, in some cases, where we get something special likeITlast year. New line is releasingThe Conjuringspin-offThe Nunon the same day and could represent some stiff competition. Be sure to check out the first trailer forPeppermint, courtesy of the STX Entertainment YouTube channel, for yourself below.
