In the near future, an advanced AI judge tells a captive detective that he's on trial for the murder of his wife. If he fails to prove his innocence within 90 minutes, he'll be executed on the spot.
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, Kylie Rogers
Release Date: December 25, 2025
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rated PG-13 for violence, bloody images, some strong language, drug content and teen smoking.
Runtime: 1h 41m
Review:
Mercy is one of those speculative science fiction films that thinks is a lot smarter than it is but behind the glossy screen life production there’s a preposterous idea that can’t decide what it’s actually trying to say pair with enough plot holes to run a dump truck through. Timur Bekmambetov knows how to direct a sleek-looking film so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is one of the better-looking screen life films out there. Even though the film technically occurs in a single room with Rebecca Ferguson’s AI Judge and Chris Pratt’s defendant there’s plenty of action thrown at the screen by way of some serious Big Brother style surveillance which the film leads you to believe that nearly everyone signed up for. There’s a set up where sections of city have been sectioned off, ala Escape from New York, but almost by design this ultra police state is just presented as being readily accepted by the general populace. It’s an odd bit of world building since it begs more questions than anything outside of the general conceit of the 90-minute timed AI murder court. Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson do the best they can with what they have to work with since neither role is all that well written with each character suffering from wild changes throughout the film, particularly the supposably infallible, emotionless AI Judge Maddox. Ferguson looks the part with her Star Trek villain black robe and slicked back hair, but the character goes from preeningly omnificent to strangely helpful and confused by the time it’s all said and done since they apparently created this program and never beta tested it before allowing it start doling out executions. It doesn’t mean that the central mystery isn’t all that interesting since it plays like a low rent redux of The Fugitive which isn’t all that hard to figure out since the film gives you plenty of clues beforehand. It all makes Mercy a forgettable bit of sci-fi shlock that could have been more interesting if the script had given the kind of care the visuals were.
D+
