Mercy movie review: It’s 2029, Los Angeles. A detective finds himself in a bind, accused of murdering his wife. He only has 90 minutes to prove his innocence: the problem is that this is a justice system powered by artificial intelligence that is judge, jury and executioner, and if he cannot present enough evidence to clarify his guilt, he will be executed.
Blinking out of his stupor, Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) finds himself tied to a chair, facing the beautiful Judge Maddox (Rebecca Fergusson). By all accounts before the judge, the detective was alone with his wife (Annabelle Wallis) for a period of time, during which she was stabbed with a sharp knife. His daughter (Kylie Rogers) finds her mother lying in a pool of blood, calls her, and from that moment, Chris’ ordeal begins.
He claims he is innocent, but so do all criminals. Things are not looking good for him: a secret he has been hiding comes to light, painting him even more guilty than he seems. Could it be jealousy over an affair he suspects is his wife? He has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Mercy program, and now he is coming for it, showing no signs of mercy or concession that he may be telling the truth.
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This could have been a gripping thriller, with a strong moral question added to the plot. In just three years from where we are now, the film tells us, AI has taken over the world. Or, let’s just say, Los Angeles. The city is shown to be overloaded with criminally minded individuals, the prisons are overflowing, and the police are overstretched. The answer is Mercy, which, with the help of super advanced technology, collects data from the cloud, to which all devices are compulsorily connected, separates the bad guys from the good guys and makes a quick judgement.
The premise is interesting and quite believable too: from the way the AI gallops around, keeping us speechless, it is very possible that it will be assigned these tasks. It also affects state control of our communication. What the film leaves us wondering, or at least wants to, is whether human intuition will always be more powerful than the most advanced robot, and whether it should ever be allowed to decide the fate of humans.
But the execution is so confusing and boring that we lose interest in the human being sitting in that deadly chair too soon, and when the kicker kicks in, we’re not at all concerned with how things happened. A massive chemical theft, a bomb, and a freeway chase unfold, but there’s no tension despite the ticking clock. The narrative is flat; so everyone is on the screen.
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If it were up to me, I’d say goodbye to everyone’s heads.
Cast of the movie Misericordia: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Fergusson, Annabelle Wallis, Kylie Rogers, Kali Rice, Chris Sullivan
Mercy movie director: Timur Bekmambetov
Mercy movie rating: 1 star