Mercy info:
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Writer: Marco van Belle
Starring: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, and Kali Reis
Intro
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. I know it seems like I give a weather update every week. That’s because where I live, there isn’t much else to talk about for about 3 months out of the year. It’s cold, it snows, and the snow stays on the ground for weeks. It’s an endless cycle, and sometimes it feels longer than others. Sometimes it makes me feel like Phil Connors in “Groundhog Day”. But at least it’s Super Bowl weekend (when I started writing this), and it’s Valentine’s Day coming up if that’s something you like to celebrate. All that, plus I have a new movie to discuss this week.
Many times, January and February get panned for having the worst releases of the year. Movies like this are why. Unlike what I’ve read online, this is not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, nor would I give this a 1 out of 10 or something like that. It does have its issues. But before I dive too far in. Let me get my spoiler warning out of the way. If you haven’t seen “Mercy” yet and don’t want to know what happens, then I suggest you head back to my reviews page to check out another movie first. Come back here when you are done.
Mercy recap
Ok, “Mercy” is a near-future dystopian movie directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Crime rates have surged, and the government now relies on AI judges to run trials in 90 minutes. Within that time limit, the defendant has access to whatever they need to prove their innocence. Up till now, there have been 18 cases tried in the Mercy court, but Det. Chris Raven (Pratt) wakes up in the chair as number 19. He has been arrested for the murder of his wife, and it shows him to be 97.5% guilty.
The AI judge assigned to oversee Chris’s case is Maddox (Ferguson). She has the ability to give him access to case evidence, surveillance footage, and even contact witnesses. As Chris slowly starts to piece together what happened, a lot of his backstory comes into play. He is a recovering alcoholic who has fallen off the wagon. Both he and his wife have grown apart since, and she has been seeing someone on the side. After that was a dead end, Chris started to focus on her work and the relationships there.
There were plenty of times when “Mercy” had some potential, but it was usually a fleeting moment, and the story normally got in the way of itself. Like, right as Chris figures out what happened and who killed his wife, the story changes, and quite a few things happen that really make no sense. As the puzzle starts to go together and more things start to point at Rob (Chris Sullivan), his wife’s boss, and his AA sponsor, somehow he finds a way to still get past all sorts of cameras and kidnaps Chris’s daughter, then proceeds to drive a semi loaded full of chemicals into the Mercy building.
Honestly, though, the most unbelievable part was with Maddox; even though it’s an AI, it starts to let Chris have his way as it starts to show feelings and remorse. What’s the whole point of that? In the end, it finds Chris not guilty, and he is let go just in time to stop Rob and save his daughter. But wait… there’s more. His longtime partner, Jaq (Reis), is just as bad as she messed with the evidence of the first Mercy case, which led to what Rob ultimately did. Sort of a cluster of an ending, huh?
My thoughts on Mercy
So, my mind goes several different ways here. This was by no means a great movie. It had lots of very convenient circumstances that Chris was able to find. The whole time I was just thinking… why couldn’t Maddox find that out long before he was put in the chair? On the other end of the spectrum, this also isn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen. I’ve read lots of comments on Reddit and Letterboxd about how it’s terrible and easily the worst thing they’ve ever watched. Yeah… I’ve seen much worse. But, like every movie ever made, everyone is entitled to their opinions.
Is there some definite “pro AI” propaganda thrown in there? Yes, 100%. But then, later, they go against that by having Maddox basically break protocol, which it would never do. It was already shown to be less than perfect with all that Chris found, where he was basically doing its job. So, I think the people saying it’s too weighted towards AI might not have finished it. Or maybe I’m just seeing it wrong, which is highly possible and not the first time I would have done that.
Apart from that, there are some fun scenes that use the world they built in a good way. It’s just too bad that a lot of those scenes were muted under the guise of an AI program not doing what it was supposed to. It’s also hard to hate on Pratt and Ferguson too much, after all, it’s not their fault the movie was written that way. I can definitely see a world where this movie works with some tweaks. All it takes is the right screenplay and writer, and it could have been a hit.
Overall, “Mercy” falls somewhere in the lower- middle. I’ve seen much worse and even more that were better. It’s mostly a victim of itself, and the message that it wanted to push out, it just didn’t vibe that way all the way to the end. Also, leads can only do so much when one’s strapped to a chair for 85% of the movie, and the other is literally on a screen the whole time. I didn’t have big expectations for this and was still let down. Just not as much as some people supposedly were. For these reasons, I give this a low 5 out of 10. I thought about 4 for a minute, but that just feels a little too low.
Watch or wait?
So, should you see “Mercy” in theaters? Well, if you’ve been following along till now, then you know my answer is no. If you’re a fan of either Pratt or Ferguson, then you will probably watch this at some point. I would just wait for it.
Well, that’s it for me this week. That means it’s your time now. If you’ve seen this and have opinions, please let me know. I want to know how many more people lean towards the terrible end than the other one. Either way, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I will be back next week with another mindless movie of some sort.
