The trailer for Jennifer Garner‘s new movie, Peppermint, is one of the most badass things we’ve seen this week. No, seriously — it’s simultaneously a throwback to her Alias days and a whole new take on a growing trend in film, where women avenge the deaths of their families, Punisher-style, and basically become avenging angels. We are so, so here for it.
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Peppermint follows Garner’s character as she wakes up from a coma after her family is gunned down at a fair. When the prosecutors decide there isn’t enough evidence to convict the killers, Garner’s character “disappears” for five years to train for revenge, not only upon the killers but upon the system that enabled them to do what they did and get away with it. She enacts that revenge bloodily and without shame.
It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen Garner in any kind of action role. She never really recovered from how badly Elektra flopped at the box office in 2005, despite Alias being one of the best female-led action shows of the early aughts. That sucks, especially when we consider how many male actors go on to have thriving careers after their own action or superhero movies flop (like, for example, Ben Affleck, whose Daredevil first introduced Garner’s take on Elektra Natchios and led to the pair marrying in real life before divorcing in 2017).
I mean… look at how many Bourne movies there are. Can we move on already?
It seems like we aren’t the only ones who feel that way. Peppermint follows in the footsteps of films like Proud Mary, starring Taraji P. Henson, and Breaking In, starring Gabrielle Union, both of which featured badass women taking the lead. Peppermint is yet another female-led movie backed by STX Entertainment, a relatively new company in Hollywood whose titles (so far) include The Edge of Seventeen, A Bad Moms Christmas, I Feel Pretty and the upcoming Second Act starring Jennifer Lopez.
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From the trailer, Peppermint looks like it flips some really tired tropes on its head, though it also leans into others pretty hard. While the film doesn’t fridge a woman for the plot development of its male lead and instead does the opposite, the trailer suggests that it also relies heavily on the idea of a woman going “mad” at the loss of her family. Garner’s character growing out her hair before she goes Punisher-side also points to some weird ideas about femininity and how women have to maintain some aspect of “prettiness,” even when they’re literally killing criminals and hanging them from Ferris wheels.
That being said, this movie looks amazing… and we are so excited to see it on opening weekend.
According to Forbes, STX and Lakeshore Entertainment will release Peppermint on Sept. 7, 2018. The film is directed by Pierre Morel, who was also behind the first Taken movie, as well as District B13, From Paris With Love and The Gunman. We hope it’s a rousing success at the box office, not only so we can (hopefully) get more action movies starring Garner, but so we can continue to prove that action movies fronted by women are much-desired and much-needed in Hollywood.
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