Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Peppermint

 

Peppermint is a 2018 action/thriller starring Jennifer Garner. It is much like The Punisher with a female lead. In the film, a woman named Riley North (played by Jennifer Garner) sees her husband and daughter gunned down in a drive-by shooting by members of a drug gang. When the killers are let off because of corrupt cops, lawyers, and a corrupt judge, Riley takes matters into her own hands to get revenge on everyone. The movie sees Garner return to the action roots she displayed in Alias, and despite being older, it does not look like she has lost a step at all.

For those who get the Blu-ray disc, the movie looks and sounds great in HD. It is a shame that it was not released in 4k UHD (at least not initially) because there are a lot of great visuals despite it not being a special-effects-laden sci-fi movie. The bonus material is kind of pathetic. It consists of a two-and-a-half-minute behind-the-scenes featurette and a commentary track by the director. The movie is not exactly novel or unique. Even though it is a pretty standard revenge story and kind of predictable in parts, it is well done and timed very well (just over an hour and a half), so it does not lag or feel like it drags on too long. If you are a fan of Garner and looking for a good action movie, it is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/TV Series Review: Alias: Seasons 1-5

 

+++Warning, this contains some spoilers from throughout the series.+++

This is the complete series of Alias which ran from 2001 to 2006 and starred Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, Kevin Weisman, Greg Grunberg, Carl Lumby, and David Anders. In the early seasons, it also starred Merrin Dungey,  Bradley Cooper, and Sarah Shahi, and in later seasons, Lena Olin, Melissa George, Rachel Nichols, and Mia Maestro.  Alias was a great concept that got a little weird when it started to focus on the Rambaldi storyline. The first few seasons where the Rambaldi storyline was merely in the background and would be advanced in one or two episodes each season were great. Once it became the focus and the supernatural elements got more and more silly, the show definitely took a downturn. 

The crux of the storyline in the first season is that Jennifer Garner's character, Sydney Bristow, believed that she was working for the CIA (which she could not reveal to anyone), while she was really working for a shadow organization run by criminals. When the organization discovered that she told her fiancee that she worked for the CIA and he was killed by the organization she discovered who she was really working for and what she was really involved in. From there the show focuses on her life as a double agent and her attempts to bring down the rogue spy agency/criminal organization.

Where Alias really shined was character development and perfect casting. Every character that was around for a significant amount of time changed from the time they were first introduced. And of course, Alias was a world where being dead did not always mean staying dead. I think the best storyline of the series was the time jump and the way it was done. Sydney having lost two years with no memory, then finding out exactly how and why her memory was erased was a great payoff. Especially when that is the kind of story that often falls flat at the big reveal.

The one drawback to the series as I said before is by the end the entire focus was on the Rambaldi storyline, and making the whole supernatural/eternal life storyline. It really did change the feel of the show, and while it did provide a good explanation for Sloane's motivation from the beginning, I think it did better when those parts of the storyline were in a few episodes of the season as opposed to the focus of the season. Overall though if you are looking for a show that combines action, comedy, great acting, and a unique take on the spy world (plus the bonus of Jennifer Garner in skimpy outfits on a pretty consistent basis) this is a good one.