Audience members, particularly women, would stand and cheer as Garner's character, Riley North, one-by-one violently kills drug cartel thugs responsible for the murder of her 10-year-old daughter and husband.

The audience reaction has been connected to the rise of the #MeToo movement.

"We were making it as the #MeToo movement was happening," Garner told AAP in a recent interview.

"I think it was timed perfectly.

"Obviously her methods we don't condone, but it is a woman saying, 'No, this system is broken. It's not OK. I'm going to stand up and do something about it'."

It has been more than a decade since Garner, 46, gave up the role of kick-ass spy Sydney Bristow in her breakthrough TV series Alias.

In the years since she has had three children with ex-husband Ben Affleck and focused on less physical films including Valentine's Day and the Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club.

The title Peppermint sounds like the movie could be another cute film from Garner.

"It's not a light, frothy movie," Garner laughs.

"It's not a romantic comedy."

It takes audiences just a few blood-soaked seconds into Peppermint to realise Garner's character is a violent killer.

After the murders of her daughter and husband and the court system fails her, North disappears for five years.

She trains in martial arts in Asia, becomes proficient in weapons and explosives and when she returns home to Los Angeles embarks on a vigilante killing spree taking out the Cartel thugs.

The film is directed by Taken's Pierre Morel.

"I took such a big break from it," Garner, explaining her break from the action genre, said.

"I was having babies, nursing them and recovering and it's not something you can do to your body in those years.

"Finally my youngest was in school and I felt like, 'Oh my gosh I think there's another action movie in me'."

Peppermint opens in Australia on Thursday.

Australian Associated Press