Mercy
review by Bobby Blakey
Director Timur Bekmambetov burst onto the scene with the awesome Night Watch and Day Watch films before breaking off into bigger tentpole films such as Wanted, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and the remake of Ben-Hur. His latest film takes on crime and AI in Mercy starring Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, and Kylie Rogers.
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Mercy follows the near future where a detective stands on trial accused of murdering his wife. He has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the advanced A.I. Judge he once championed, before it determines his fate.
I am always intrigued by future law enforcement films like Minority Report and Robocop and seeing the crazy things they do with it. This time around they fully inject AI, social media etc. to bring this story to life in a way we have seen on some level in other films, but kind of all its own as well. The idea is great and works to make a compelling murder mystery story as the trial plays out even if it is predictable at times.
The story is simple, but just complex enough to keep you engaged. Sure, they could have done this same story in a more traditional way outside of the Mercy court addition, but I was all in from the opening scene. There are plenty of moments that kind of make you step back and could have gone in a better direction, but it’s still clever enough to deliver.
Outside of the new technology to bring the film to life it feels like something that would have hit the 80s or 90s with one of the old school action guys and I am here for it. Pratt is fine here, but it’s the kind of role and character that
really could have been played by anyone. Ferguson is good in the role and keeps the stoic emotionless persona to make it work. There is an element that flicks out of that element at one point that didn’t make a lot of sense, but it is what it is.
As the story unfolds it isn’t hard to figure out who is ultimately behind it all, but I enjoyed the journey to get there and the creative way it does the detective work. The final act is where it kind of changes the tone trying to inject more action set pieces which is fine, but I would have loved something that stayed within the original narrative to keep the idea of the Mercy court intact as it had been used as opposed to the convenient twist to try and make something bigger that I felt unnecessary.
There are elements here that are obviously taking on the good and bad of AI, law enforcement and many other topics depending on how deep you care to dive into. For me while those things are clearly here I just sat back and enjoyed the sci-fi crime thriller nature and had a good time in the end.
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Join the hunt for the truth when Mercy signs onto 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on April 7th from Amazon MGM Studios and Alliance Home Entertainment.
You can preorder Mercy now on Amazon.