Mercy Review

Mercy is an attempt at a topical sci-fi thriller by focusing on artificial intelligence and surveillance in the near future.

Los Angeles is suffering violent crime, high unemployment, and homelessness, with a justice system unable to cope. This has led the city to introduce a radical solution, the Mercy Court, where suspects of violent crime are put before an AI judge and have 90 minutes to prove their innocence. One of the biggest proponents of the Mercy Court is Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt). However, when his wife, Nicole (Annabelle Wallis), is found dead, Chris becomes the prime suspect and must investigate the case when put on trial in front of Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson).

There’s no escaping the rise of AI. It dominates business news, and many companies have jumped onto the AI hype train. I have even written an article about the impact of AI. There have been recent films that look at the growth and threat of AI, like the last two Mission: Impossible movies and the Blumhouse sci-fi horror thriller AfrAId. Other films, like the third Now You See Me film, have made passing references to AI in a negative context. Mercy was trying to capitalise on this growing issue.

Mercy has been slated by critics. It could only muster a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it was lucky it came out on the same weekend as Return to Silent Hill, since that film had worse reviews. Mercy was essentially Minority Report if it were made as a screen life film. The premise was the same: a police detective and advocate for a new form of law enforcement ends up being accused of murder and must prove their innocence. Minority Report was a thrilling sci-fi film that had some great action sequences and ground-breaking special effects, whilst Mercy had Chris Pratt tied to a chair and looking at videos and data. Mercy had a slightly more plausible premise compared to Minority Report, but that’s the only thing going for it.

Mercy was directed by Timur Bekmambetov, so I went in hoping for a stylish film. He’s known for making films like Nightwatch, Wanted, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. What I didn’t realise was Bekmambetov’s involvement with screen life films. He directed Profile and produced the excellent Searching, and most notoriously, Amazon Prime’s adaptation of War of the Worlds. Even though Mercy was filmed in 2024, it felt like it was made during the Pandemic since few of the characters physically interacted with each other.  This affected the performances, especially Rebecca Ferguson, who was wasted as an emotionless computer program.  Annabelle Wallis was also wasted in her role as the nagging wife who ends up in a body bag.

Due to the 90-minute ticking clock, the screenwriting mechanics were clearly visible. It felt like the screenwriter read a couple of how-to-write-a-screenplay books and just followed the templates verbatim. The first act was about Chris’ backstory, being in denial about his wife’s murder, and reluctantly accepting that he has to play along with the trial. The second act was about Chris investigating the crime so he could prove his innocence. The final act turned Mercy into an episode of 24 if it were told from the CTU control room instead of the agents on the ground. The screen life filmmaking impacted the action scenes, which were limited to body cam footage, drone recordings, and news reports.

The film aimed to be a cautionary tale and highlight current issues, yet it fumbled its message. It highlighted current issues affecting America to the point that justice gets outsourced to AI, and shows how much of our lives are online. The message the film ended up spreading was that mass surveillance and invasion of our digital privacy are good if it’s done for the greater good, and AI is only as good as the information it’s given. The filmmakers ended up missing the point they were trying to highlight.

Mercy was one of the first big studio films of 2026, and it looks likely to be one of the worst studio films of the year. It was filmed like it should have been released straight-to-streaming and mishandled its own message.