The "lone hero takes violent revenge" genre of action movie has been so popular since the success of Liam Neeson's Taken that it's more than likely that some of the movies that have been released in the last few years have floated past you entirely unnoticed. If I told you that Jennifer Garner actually made a movie in this style back in 2018, you might vaguely remember a film called Peppermint, or you might think I was making the whole thig up. Except it seems that there are quite a few people who only recently discovered that Peppermint happened, because the movie is huge on Netflix right now.
As of this writing, Peppermint is the number four title in Netflix's Top 10 in the U.S. which is a pretty impressive place to be for a movie that made barely more than $50 million worldwide when it was released. Clearly, with a box office take like that, the people watching it on Netflix right now are not people who loved the film the first time around and are taking the opportunity to revisit it. Instead, these are largely people watching it for the first time, but really, this is behavior we've seen before from Netflix viewers and Peppermint is exactly the sort of film we would expect to benefit from that.
Usually, the the projects that grab viewers eyeballs are exactly the sorts of things you'd expect. Netflix original films and series are almost always in the top 10 when they launch. There's no place else to watch them and for many those original projects are the reason people have Netflix in the first place. We also see the big movies that were huge hits in the top 10. When Netflix was full of Disney movies, specifically Marvel Cinematic Universe items, they were frequently near the top.
But these under the radar films frequently sneak in as well. At the end of the day, movies like Peppermint are a big reason to even have streaming services. They give you easy access to films and TV you might not otherwise consider. After you've finished binging The Crown, and you're looking for something new to watch, there's no harm in checking out a movie like this. People tend to like Jennifer Garner, and the description of the movie "mild-mannered mom remakes herself into a badass vigilante" is certainly intriguing. Who wouldn't want to watch that? Maybe you wanted to see this movie in theaters but missed it. Maybe you were never even aware it existed, but now that it's watchable at the touch of a button, why not?
And the beauty of Netflix is, you lose nothing by giving it a chance. If this was the days of VHS or DVD rental, you're spending money to give this movie a try, but with Netflix, your money is already spent, and if you turn on Peppermint and 15 minutes in, the movie isn't working for you, you can just stop watching it and move on to something else. There's a decent chance that many viewers have done exactly that.
Peppermint isn't a lost classic, but it is an entertaining action movie that does some different things with this genre of story, not only by making the main character a mother, but by not making her a superhero. Seriously, if you have a problem watching women being the subject of violence, this might not be your movie because for all the ass that Jennifer Garner kicks in this film, she also gets hers kicked pretty hard as well. But if that works for you, then maybe give Peppermint a look, assuming you haven't already.
