History Film / Peppermint

* ArtisticLicense-Law: There is no way in hell that the judiciary committee would allow the case to stand. The judge would be in hot water once word got out that he left a clearly distraught woman out to dry despite their being ample evidence and numerous witnesses that could be called (the attack clearly happened out in the open). Child murder is a deadly serious crime in most jurisdictions that warrants the death penalty. At no point does the judge entertain the possibility that just maybe, he might be out of line. The prosecution is given free rein to attack the victim without so much as an objection from the defense. The questioning doesn't even have anything to do with the attack. The case is establishing a motive for the murder, not reviewing the victim's sanity. The case should've been appealed, and the judge, attorney's and others sacked for their stupidity. If this happened IRL, there'd be no end to the repercussions that the Judge and attorneys would suffer. Judicial misconduct is a grave mistake, and the consequences are severe. Thankfully this is a work of fiction (hopefully). The Judge also sentences her to a mental health treatment center, without permission from psychiatrists or other qualified health professionals. The only result from this clusterfuck would be a swift and immediate firing followed by an appeal. Granted she did attack them but that's only because the judge and attorney were being utter dicks for no reason. The writers clearly never studied law.

* CrusadingWidower: And how. She won't stop until she takes down the cartel that murdered her family.

* VengefulWidow: Riley wants justice, but suffice it to say she falls under here as well.

* LaserGuidedKarma: {{spoiler:During the climax, Detective Stan Carmichael, a DirtyCop secretly on Diego Garcia's payroll and who recently executed Agent Inman by gunshot, resorts to flashing his badge and revealing his identity to the cops who were led to Riley's location by the latter using the deceased Agent's phone. Sure enough, Garcia is now convinced that Carmichael sold him out and shoots him to death in retaliation.]]

* AdultFear: One come true: your daughter getting murdered.

* InMediaRes: The film opens with Riley killing one of her targets in a car and performing WorstAid on herself.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: The Cartel members who assassinated Riley's family get off scot free since the judge is on the Cartel's payroll. Worse, the judge orders her into a mental institution due to her using anti-psychotic medication and trying to attack them in court. Riley taking down the Cartel and exposing the corruption in the police department, the very things that led her down her present path? Nope, she committed murder, so she must be arrested. [[spoiler:Luckily, she is freed by Beltran at the film's end.]]

* KangarooCourt: The case in the beginning is rigged against Riley. [[spoiler:The judge is one of her first victims.]]

* TheCartel: Diego Garcia is the local head of a powerful Latin American drug-trafficking syndicate in LA.

* TheCowl: She's a vigilante who also emerges from the shadows to stop violent thugs in the poor part of town where she lives, in a cowl no less. She's regarded by many on social media as a superhero.

* HollywoodLaw: Let's just say that the hearing Riley takes place in where her family's killers get off bears absolutely zero resemblance to how an actual hearing would go. But without it [[RuleOfDrama we wouldn't have a plot]]. It's also somewhat justified as the judge is in their pocket. It's also implied that the prosecutor is too, along with the police, or are at least intimidated into not opposing the cartel for fear of their lives.

* NeverMyFault: The police who say she must answer for their crimes. Even though, and after it's been proven that the corruption in their department helped instigate the events in the film.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: The judge and lawyer of the murderers are in the pocket of the cartel, leading to the acquittal of the killers.

* UsedToBeASweetKid: Well, she was definitely a kind person the earliest we saw of her. Not a trace of that is left after the tragic murder of her family.
* VengefulWidow: She wants justice, but suffice it to say she falls under here as well.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: [[spoiler:Riley's final showdown with Garcia consists of this. Upon confronting Garcia, she goads him into fighting her, despite being seriously wounded to retaliate, and suffers a brief but brutal NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from him, but manages to stall him long enough [[BigDamnHeroes for the police to arrive]]. She then chases down Garcia and manages to shoot him in the head in front of the police before escaping.]]

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Let's just say that the hearing Riley takes place in where her family's killers get off bears absolutely zero resemblance to how an actual hearing would go. But without it we wouldn't have a plot.

** Whenever an {{Abusive Parent|s}} is involved, she'll make damn sure they clean up their act for their child's sake.

* MiscarriageOfJustice: In a sense. Riley isn't the accused, but the hearing ends in a double whammy decision where in addition to the killers' release, and the judge sending her to an institution based on her meds plus attacking the defendants after his ruling.

* AntiHero: Somewhere between {{Pragmatic|Hero}} and UnscrupulousHero. She resorts to murder, but given everything that happened to her and the corruption that she faces down, and also that she has saved many lives in the poor side of town she resides, she remains sympathetic.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Let's just say that the hearing Riley takes place in where her family's killers get off bears absolutely zero resemblance to how an actual hearing would go.

* ByronicHero: Riley loses her family and then turns into a vigilante to get back at all of those that had wronged her and her family.

* CreateYourOwnHero: The cartel responsible for murdering her husband and daughter, and the court that got them off the hook, are responsible for turning Riley into their own worst nightmare.

* RichBitch: Peg is from the richer side of Los Angeles, and sets up the situation that gets Riley North's family where they could be gunned down by [[TheCartel Cartel]] thugs. Later Peg gets her comeuppance, receiving the punch that daughter Carly North said she should have gotten five years ago, for being bitchy towards Riley and Carly, and it's revealed that during the interval between the shooting and Riley's return to LA Peg was left by her husband for a TrophyWife.

* TookALevelInBadass: Riley, in spades.

* HeroStoleMyBike: After Riley murders multiple crooks in a store, she walks up to the befuddled kid behind the counter and, after telling him at gunpoint to forget she was here, asks him for his car keys.

* BreakTheHaughty: Peg goes from lording over Riley with her upper class lifestyle at the beginning, to finding that her husband has left her for someone else in the present, and [[PottyEmergency wetting herself]] from Riley's threats.

* ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife: Peg is introduced as a rich Girl Scout mom threatening to lodge a formal complaint against Working-Class Hero Riley over a parking spot

* [[spoiler:NothingLeftToDoButDie: Having finally completed her vengeance after killing Diego and having the Cartel taken down, a heavily wounded Riley stops at the cemetery where her loved ones are buried, and is prepared to die there. Beltran finds and takes her to the hospital.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: Peg goes from lording over Riley with her upper class lifestyle at the beginning, to finding that her husband [[YourCheatingHeart has left her for someone else]] in the present, and [[PottyEmergency wetting herself]] from Riley's threats.

* {{Expy}}: García resembles Bennett from ''Film/{{Commando}}''.