WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Peppermint, in theaters now.
At first glance, the trailers for Pierre Morel's Peppermint made it seem like Jennifer Garner's Riley North was seeking revenge for her family's death in a similar fashion to the popular Marvel vigilante known as the Punisher. It's an understandable comparison to make, as she's seen taking out a Los Angeles gang all by herself.
However, as the film exposes more of Riley's tragic life, we see that despite this first impression, her history and the way she goes about her vendetta is quite different from that of Frank Castle. It may seem like she's the female equivalent of the Punisher... but she's really not.
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Firstly, her family's death at the hands of the LA gang wasn't part of some big plan, a major difference from why Frank's family was slaughtered. In the comics, his family was killed for witnessing a crime by the mob, while in the recent Netflix series they were killed as part of a bigger conspiracy by his former allies. So there's always been some end-game with their killing, one that was always personal and tied to a bigger ambition.
In Peppermint however, the villains had no issue with Riley. It's quite the opposite, really, as they make the decision to kill her family after her husband turned down a job to secretly steal money from them as he didn't want to mess with them. In other words, Morel's movie was less about a gang exacting revenge, and more about senseless violence designs to incite revenge-fueled mayhem.
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What also sets Riley apart from the Punisher is that unlike the many depictions of him (which range from cop to war veteran across comics, film and television), she was never a police officer or someone with military training. Riley is simply a mother who loved taking her daughter to girl scout meetings, a housewife trying to help her family as a bank teller. Unlike Frank, who returned from the dead and already had access to the skills and weapons that would enable a one-man crusade, she had to steal from the bank the fund her revenge and run away to Thailand.
There, the FBI found out she trained in various MMA tournaments and honed her skill with shady folks in order to become an elite assassin. It's actually more similar to Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins than the Punisher, except Riley practiced her new trade by murdering criminals across foreign territories before coming home.
Lastly, Riley shows mercy, albeit sparingly. She's seen allowing key victims to live, namely the LA gang's accountant Marvin (John Boyd), all so she could ascertain the information needed on their operations. In the end, the folks she spares are all part of a trap she's setting to get the gang's true bosses, a Mexican cartel, to turn on the LA arm. This is different to how Frank operates, which is usually more direct and in a guns a-blazing manner. He doesn't risk anyone surviving; once you're in his crosshairs and even remotely attached to his enemies, you're dead.
Riley, on the other hand, assesses whether you're one of the people she really needs to murder, and if not, while it's a rare thing, she will spare you -- as seen with the concubine of the gang leader, Diego (Juan Pablo Raba), and an abusive father she met in a liquor store while she's seeking to steal a car.
It's a rare thing but she clearly still has a sense of compassion and some sort of maternal instinct left in her, breaking the obsession we so often see Punisher enveloped in. This is exemplified in a few scenes where she actually stops mid-campaign and breaks down crying, still emotionally scarred by her loss, as she was never mentally prepared for this kind of war -- the kind of war the Punisher is mentally prepared to finish.
Directed by Pierre Morel, Peppermint stars Jennifer Garner, John Ortiz, John Gallagher Jr. and Juan Pablo Raba.