Having a countdown timer on screen for most of your movie is a bold filmmaking choice.
In the best-case scenario for a movie like “Mercy,” in which a Los Angeles detective has to prove his innocence in front of an artificial intelligence judge within said deadline, this ramps up the tension. Who hasn’t seen sweaty palms in the movie “Mission: Impossible” when bombs are falling and Tom Cruise still hasn’t cleared the building? Why not extend it for the duration?
Maybe this could have worked in a better film. Sadly, with “Mercy” in theaters Thursday, it’s always a reminder of how much longer you’ll have to endure until you’re free from Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, and that chair.
In the near-future Los Angeles of “Mercy”, AI has been adopted by law enforcement and the judicial system to more efficiently clean up the city’s crime and blight problem. It’s a powerful and not too far-fetched idea that could be a fascinating and provocative premise for a movie trying to grapple with the implications of so-called progress that had the potential to be a worthy companion to another Cruise film, “Minority Report.” But it will require a more serious script than screenwriter Marco Van Belle’s and more foresight than filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov.
When Pratt’s character, Chris Raven, wakes up barefoot and sitting on an electric chair in the middle of a strangely large room that resembles a holodeck, he is informed by an IMAX-sized AI judge that he has 90 minutes to prove that he didn’t kill his wife. In this world, people in prison are guilty until proven innocent. They’ve also taken the lawyers and the jury out of the equation. Instead, the accused have everyone’s digital footprints to help build their case. For Raven, that means everything from ring cam footage to her teenage daughter’s secret Instagram account.
Unfortunately for Raven, he wakes up with some gaps in his memory between storming home angry over something his wife said and being arrested and beaten in a bar later that day. Raven was also one of the original champions of the AI ​​judge system, which could have resulted in some real stakes in more curious scripts. However, the story relies on more and more tortured plot devices, including Raven’s drinking problem following the death of a partner killed on the job. To its credit, the story actually keeps it ambiguous as to whether Raven did it or not, but to say he earns any kind of investment in the outcome is a stretch.
One of the most confusing choices is having a real actor play the AI ​​judge. Wouldn’t it be more interesting and provocative to use an AI creation as the impartial Judge Maddox instead of stripping all of Ferguson’s emotion and charisma from the role? Sometimes, it feels as exhausting as watching an increasingly frustrating call with a stranger’s robotic customer service representative in real time.
Considering how relatable this film is on screen and Pratt alone, one could assume that “Mercy” was a socially distanced, COVID-era survival movie rather than something made in 2024. Kali Reese plays another LD agent named Jake, who decides to help Raven investigate on the ground, pursuing the lead and Hunch in the real world. But for the most part, she is only seen through FaceTime and bodycam footage. Like Raven, we’re pretty much sitting in an armchair watching things play out on multiple screens, and being acutely aware of how much time is left.
“Mercy,” released in theaters Thursday by Amazon MGM, has been given a PG-13 rating by the Motion Picture Association for “drug content, bloody images, some strong language, teen smoking and violence.” Running time: 101 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
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