Peppermint is a 2018 American vigilante action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel and starring Jennifer Garner. Also featuring John Ortiz, John Gallagher Jr., Juan Pablo Raba, and Tyson Ritter, the plot follows a woman who transforms herself into a vigilante in a quest for revenge against the drug cartel that killed her daughter and husband.
The film was released in the United States on September 7, 2018. It grossed $53 million worldwide and received generally negative reviews from critics. The film was released on Netflix in 2020, as well as other platforms.
Plot
An unidentified woman engages in a brutal fight with a man in a car. After a fierce struggle, she manages to shoot him in the head.
Five years earlier, the same woman, Riley North, is working as a banker in Los Angeles, struggling to make ends meet. Her husband, Chris, owns a failing mechanic shop, and together, they have a ten-year-old daughter, Carly. Chris's friend tries to coerce him into robbing Diego Garcia, a powerful drug lord. Chris turns him down; however, Garcia, having already discovered his involvement, orders his men to make an example of him. When Riley and Chris take Carly out to a carnival for her birthday, Diego's men gun down the family in a drive-by shooting, killing Carly and Chris and injuring Riley.
Despite her injuries, Riley is able to positively identify the shooters. The LAPD detectives handling the case are hesitant to pursue charges against the three as Garcia wields considerable power & influence. They are also aware that Garcia has someone inside the Department. Prior to the preliminary hearing, Riley is visited by the perpetrators's lawyer, who tries to bribe her. She refuses the bribe, but the lawyer notices she has anti-psychotic medication at home and uses this information to paint her as an unreliable witness. Judge Stevens, who is secretly on the cartel's payroll, declares there is insufficient evidence to allow the perpetrators to stand trial and dismisses the case, while the prosecuting lawyers do nothing. Outraged, Riley tries to attack her family's killers, but she is subdued and ordered to be held at a psychiatric ward. En route, she escapes and vanishes.
Five years later, Detectives Moises Beltran and Stan Carmichael arrive at the site of the carnival and find the three shooters hanging from the Ferris wheel, having been killed by Riley. The killings attract the attention of FBI agent Lisa Inman. Inman explains to the detectives that before vanishing, Riley robbed the bank she used to work at, and that she has now returned, having robbed a gun store to steal a wide arsenal of weapons and ammunition.
Riley kills Judge Stevens by blowing up his house, having already killed the defense and prosecution lawyers involved. The police decide to tell the media about Riley, which causes a debate on social media between those who see her as a hero and those who see her as a criminal.
Riley heads to a business that is a front for Diego's money laundering, where she kills most of his men. Diego realizes Riley is responsible for his recent shipments going missing and resolves to kill her. Inman discovers Riley has been living in Skid Row, owing to recent changes to crime patterns in the area. She finds Riley's van, full of the stolen weapons, and learns that the people there see Riley as their guardian angel for keeping them safe.
Riley survives a trap set by Diego, follows his henchmen to Diego's home, and kills his many guards. When Diego's young daughter, who evokes her own murdered child, interrupts her as she confronts Diego, she hesitates allowing Diego to wound her. She flees as law enforcement arrives on the property. Inman calls Carmichael to Skid Row to wait for Riley, but Carmichael, secretly on Diego's payroll, shoots Inman dead and notifies Diego of Riley's likely destination.