I try to go into every movie with a positive outlook, but any movie opening in January deserves some healthy skepticism. Unfortunately, my fears were realized with MERCY. What starts as a creative premise quickly gives way to emotionless mediocrity, with telegraphed twists that will leave you feeling less than satisfied. It doesn’t help that both of the main characters are stuck in a chair and a computer screen almost the entire time. The film seems to want to take a stance on the overreach of AI in everyday society, but it never really has anything intelligent to say; by the end of the film I challenge you to discern what the overall message is supposed to be. MINORITY REPORT this is not.
Set in near-future Los Angeles, Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) is a champion of the city’s new AI judicial system, Mercy, which serves as judge, jury, and executioner. Because of the skyrocketing crime in the city (and worldwide) the police institutes this new system that will quickly determine an individual’s guilt. The accused have 90 minutes to go through the evidence of their case and prove to the AI Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) that they are innocent or garner enough reasonable doubt to put them under the 92% guilty metric. Should the defendant not get below the threshold, they are executed.
When Chris’s wife (Annabelle Wallis) is brutally murdered and he is the top suspect, it becomes clear that there are serious problems with allowing AI to determine life or death. Chris can’t remember anything that happened in the lead-up to his wife’s death, but the evidence against him isn’t looking great. So Chris embarks in a fast-moving battle to save his life, leveraging his investigative experience and the vast resources of the AI database to prove his innocence…or come to the realization that he may have been the perpetrator.
Rebecca Ferguson is always great, so it’s no surprise that she is the one saving grace of the film. She makes the best out of a role that could have just been a floating, stoic head. Instead, she plays the judge with an icy frigidity, which makes the AI’s small glimmers of humanity and emotion that much more interesting as the action goes on.
This brings me to my main issue with the film—you’re supposed to be invested in and rooting for Chris being found not guilty of his crimes from the AI unit. However, the problem is Chris is written as a very unlikable character. It’s not even that Chris is an anti-hero, he is portrayed as a borderline abusive, alcoholic husband that regularly screams at his wife and lashes out in fits of rage. From ripping a phone out of his wife’s hand, to slamming a knife into a cutting board while screaming at her, it’s hard to get behind someone that is so volatile. I know a big reason these scenes are included in the film is to show why he was arrested and that he may be capable of murder, but it also takes away the main conflict in the film. I didn’t care if the AI killed Chris, in fact after some of the volatile scenes I was hoping it did.
I almost always advocate for seeing films in theaters, but MERCY would have been better to release on streaming. I saw the film in 3D IMAX, and it was cool how this format immersed you in the action by having the evidence feel like it was all around you. However, this movie is one you can definitely watch from the comfort of your home… and will probably forget about in a couple of days.
The one fun moment of the film was for PARKS AND RECREATION fans. Did you notice a cameo from our favorite Pawnee newscaster Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson)? I thought that was a fun wink to the audience. I think Perd said it best when he said, “It’s just not believable. Which is why I give [it] one-and-a-half stars.'”
My Review: D
