Ever since Charles Bronson’s Death Wish burst onto movie screens in 1974, vigilante movies have been a staple of the action genre. There’s just something about an ordinary person getting revenge on evildoers that makes audiences stand up and cheer, even if critics don’t always agree that they’re a worthwhile cinematic experience. Case in point: Jennifer Garner‘s 2018 vigilante action thriller Peppermint, which bombed big with pundits, but is now getting its revenge thanks to Tubi.
Hitting theaters back in 2018 – six years before Garner would rejoin the MCU in Deadpool & Wolverine – Peppermint features the Elektra star as Riley North, a banker struggling to keep her family’s head above water financially. When her husband and ten-year-old daughter are gunned down in a drive-by shooting by members of a ruthless drug cartel, North does what the corrupt justice system is unwilling to do, and goes after those that killed her loved ones. Systematically taking out each and every person responsible for what happened, it all culminates in an epic climax that sees the grieving widow finally get the verdict the courts were unable to give her.
Directed by Pierre Morel (Taken), Peppermint also stars John Ortiz, John Gallagher Jr., Juan Pablo Raba, Cailey Fleming and Tyson Ritter. Released on Sept. 7, 2018, the action thriller managed to take in $13.4 million in its opening weekend, which was enough to land it second place at the box office behind The Nun. It would end up making a modest total of $53.9 million against a $25 million budget, which isn’t bad for an independent movie that not a lot of people had heard of. Though the film was panned by critics, it’s now getting revenge thanks to Tubi, where it currently sits in the #5 position on their list of Top 10 movies, per Flix Patrol.
Why Did Critics Hate ‘Peppermint’?
It’s no surprise that critics were unkind to Peppermint, as vigilante action thrillers often don’t sit well with them for a variety of reasons. Many thought the film lacked substance, and was a paint-by-numbers thriller in the same vein as Morel’s Taken, only with a lot less plot. Holding just a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, critic Mike Massie said in their review:
“[Peppermint] operates on the most basic, unoriginal, uninspired revenge fantasy design, so that it rarely feels like anything other than a remake of overly familiar vigilante epics.”
That being said, the film fared much better with fans, who propelled it to an audience score of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, with many calling it “one of the best revenge flicks ever made.” As one RT user put it: “Movies like this are why you listen to the audience reviews instead of the critics’ reviews.” Indeed, a lot of others chimed in to say the same thing, questioning if critics had watched the same film they did, as it was a thoroughly enjoyable 101 minutes for them.
If you’ve never seen it, you can make up your own mind about the film for the low, low cost of nothing, as Peppermint is now streaming for free on Tubi.
