Mercy
Unintelligent sci-fi/action/mystery/thriller neither condemns nor endorses artificial intelligence, but it entertains.
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People have been straight up hating on “Mercy” (now in theaters), but I’d suggest they should make like Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) from “Full House” and, “Have mercy,” because despite being cheesy it’s better than you’ve likely heard.
It’s the near future in Los Angeles and Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) stands accused of murdering his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis) after falling off the wagon. The probability of his guilt has been deemed high enough that Chris is assigned to Mercy, an artificial intelligence-powered court overseen by Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson).
Chris is strapped to a chair and has an hour and a half to prove his innocence lest he get executed. He has video calls with his teenage daughter Britt (Kylie Rogers), his partner Jaq Diallo (Kali Reis) and his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Rob Nelson (Chris Sullivan) in hopes of exonerating himself. He also engages with Nicole’s co-worker Holt Charles (Rafi Gavron) and her possible lover Patrick Burke (Jeff Pierre) hoping to get to the bottom of what prompted her murder.
“Mercy” is directed by Timur Bekmambetov (reuniting with Pratt 18 years after “Wanted”) and scripted by Marco van Belle. It’s a hokey sci-fi/action/mystery/thriller that kept me entertained and engaged throughout. Some of the dialogue is pretty wonky, but a lot of it is also funny and I found myself laughing a fair amount throughout. Bekmambetov has made movies both good (“Night Watch,” “Wanted”) and bad (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and I’d say this one is ultimately more the former and less the latter.
A lot of people have beef with Pratt over his political and religious beliefs, but I’ve always found him to be a pretty likable screen presence and that’s no exception here despite the fact that he’s playing a flawed character who’s arguably a bad dad and husband. Ferguson’s Maddox is less antagonistic than trailers led us to believe, but I appreciated that she had different notes to play in what’s admittedly a fairly restrictive role.
“Mercy” is a screenlife reskinning of “Minority Report” (a subgenre Bekmambetov is plenty familiar with having directed “Profile” and produced “Missing,” “Bloat” and infamous Razzie nominee “War of the Worlds” (2025)) and while it’s entertaining it’s nowhere near as good nor as accomplished as Steven Spielberg’s Philip K. Dick adaptation. There’s a twist or two too many, but I’d argue overall it’s fairly far from shitty.