REVIEW: ‘Mercy’ Feels Like a ‘Parks & Rec’ Dream Rather Than a Sci-Fi Movie

It’s the year 2029. Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) finds himself on trial in Mercy court for the murder of his wife, Nicole (Annabelle Wallis). Mercy court is unlike any court the world has ever seen. Instead of lawyers laying out the case and a jury deciding the verdict, Mercy court uses AI to decide the fate of the defendant. Presiding over Raven’s trial is AI bot, Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson). Unlike in years past, where lawyers took the time to go over the evidence provided, Maddox  instead uses the servers, data, and evidence available to it to decide if Raven is guilty of the murder. Raven, on the other hand, will only have 90 minutes to utilize those same items to clear his name. With no recollection of the murder, Raven must convince Maddox that the likeliness that he is guilty is below 92%. If not, at the end of the 90 minutes he will be executed. With time and AI against him, Raven will unravel quite the tale in Amazon MGM Studios’ new movie, Mercy.

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, Mercy heavily plays on the screen life genre. Pioneered by Bekmambetov, the movie uses Facetime calls, virtual computer screens, etc., to tell the story. As ceertain scenes unfold the audience views them as though they are watching the case through a device, such as a phone or laptop. It’s quite an innovative choice since that is how many people get their knowledge and entertainment today. He takes it one step further though. The audience is learning about the case in real time, much like Raven. Bekmambetov makes it feel as though the audience is the one strapped to the chair at Mercy court and not Raven. This type of genre isn’t for everyone, but when there is an AI bot that plays the co-lead, it only makes sense to tell the story in this way.

However, this is where the positives stop. The story was all over the place. Pieces of the story didn’t entirely fall into place, the characters seemed unrealistic, and not all the twists made sense. It felt as if the story was a dream made up by Pratt’s Parks and Recreation character, Andy Dwyer, especially when Pratt’s Parks and Rec costar, Jay Jackson makes an appearance as a news anchor in the movie. I was taken completely out of the movie and thought of Perd Hapley and Parks and Rec. But what a fun plot line that would have been for Dwyer, or possibly for his alias, Burt Macklin, FBI,

Pratt leads the movie and does a nice job with what he is given. He spends ¾ of the movie strapped to a chair, so he was limited with what he could do, but he made every moment count. From his facial expressions to the tone of his voice, Pratt showcased Raven’s emotion with ease. Ferguson co-leads the movie and is not entirely believable as an AI bot. Her non-verbals felt more human than bot. That might have been on purpose, but I had a hard time believing she was an AI bot.

Mercy is not a movie I would run out to see this weekend. Yes, it was made to be seen in IMAX, but it is not worth the price of the ticket. If you are really set on seeing the movie, wait until it is released on Prime Video. That way you can enjoy, or not enjoy, the movie from your own home.

Grade: C-