By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
This film could have used that Cobra Kai type of mentality, but instead, its own leg gets swept, falling flat on its face. “Mercy” is a whodunnit action crime thriller that has an interesting enough premise crippled by flaws in execution. While the story has some compelling aspects to it, there is a certain level of cheapness to this Amazon MGM production that makes it feel like it is more suitable for a straight-to-streaming release rather than a theatrical release.
Set in the not-too-distant future of Los Angeles, an advanced A.I. program has replaced the traditional justice system to be the judge, jury, and executioner for people charged with murder. Ironically, Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), who championed this new judicial process, is now strapped to a chair before the A.I. Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) for the murder of his wife. He has only 90 minutes to prove his innocence and find the real killer using all technology available to him, but if the time expires before he can provide reasonable doubt, he will be executed where he sits.
Timur Bekmambetov is a Kazakh-Russian director who has had very little success in his career with feature films such as the “Ben-Hur” remake or “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” With “Mercy,” he tries to emulate “Minority Report” in multiple ways, focusing the protagonist in mortal danger trying to solve a murder he did not commit. And like that Spielberg classic, Timur dresses this basic plot up with sci-fi themes that are not too far removed from today’s society. This does allow for enhanced realism and conceivability. However, the plot itself is highly predictable with audiences able to solve the mystery relatively early on in the storytelling, especially with the obvious misdirection the director inserts that fools no one.
Attaching a 90-minute deadline is smart in that it allows Timur to film almost in real time and avoids slow pacing issues. Unfortunately, the expedited timeframe exposes the film to glaring plot holes and flawed logic. For instance, this artificial intelligence program is supposed to be infallible, yet it still provides the accused with access to all the same evidence and technology to prove their innocence. If this A.I. was so perfect, then how could the human accused quickly identify overlooked items from the video evidence? And there seems to be no human oversight of this program, letting it act autonomously with no safeguards in place. There’s also a scene involving a runaway semi-truck that police are desperately trying to stop before it reaches its destination, but even with all their advanced technology, they seem clueless on how to do so. Not one of them seemed to think of using Stop Sticks to flatten the tires.
Timur tries hard to give this film a summer blockbuster visual vibe using IMAX cameras with 3D technology. While this effectively puts viewers in the driver’s seat of the action, the special effects used are made-for-TV quality that reveals this film for what it is, a lower-tier production. He mixes in a variety of visual mediums from body cams to doorbell cams to camera phones similar to 2023’s “Missing,” but the chaotic shift to shaky visuals creates a dizzying effect that neutralizes the IMAX experience.
Perhaps the weakest element to this production is the acting. Having quality veterans like Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson is completely marginalized by the fact that there was very little acting for them to do. Pratt was literally strapped to a chair for the majority of the film, undermining his talents as an action actor. He did about as well as he could with his line delivery and facial reactions that rely on his natural charisma, but with limited movement, that’s like forcing Michael Jordan to only play baseball instead of basketball. And Ferguson’s face was shown throughout as a projected image where she simply had to deliver her lines very clinically and devoid of emotion. The rest of the supporting cast, specifically Kali Reis and Chris Sullivan, overacted their parts to the point of distraction.
Ultimately, this is a paint-by-numbers murder mystery minus the mystery, incorporating A.I. to make the plot more topical. The promising premise and intrigue may generate enough entertainment value to appease viewers looking for simplicity, but “Mercy” is one of those bargain basement type of action thrillers that works better on a home screen, rather than the cinema, let alone IMAX. It should show up on Prime in no time, best to watch there if at all.
This movie earns:
