My quick rating – 6.3/10. In Mercy, the near future apparently decided that the best way to streamline the justice system was to hand it over to a shiny AI named “Mercy.” Because nothing says compassion like a machine that acts as judge, jury, and executioner. Subtle.
Chris Pratt plays Detective Chris Raven, who finds himself strapped to a chair on trial for murdering his wife. He has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the AI system he once publicly supported. Yes, the same system that is now very politely preparing to kill him. That’s what I call a rough day at work.
The idea itself is strong right out of the gate. Prove your innocence to an algorithm or face execution. The Mercy system sounds less like AI and more like ICE without the “Intelligence.” It calculates guilt in decimal points, adjusts probabilities on the fly, and somehow treats discovering a whole new suspect like it’s a minor clerical update. In what universe does finding another viable suspect only drop your guilt level by 0.8 points? This thing is supposedly built on millions of prior cases. I’ve seen fantasy football apps with better analytics.
Raven’s defense strategy doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either. His go-to argument of “I couldn’t” isn’t the mic-drop he seems to think it is. It’s less an airtight alibi and more a shrug emoji. To be fair, the guy went off the rails and dove headfirst into the bottle after his partner, Ray (Kenneth Choi), was killed. Yes, that Kenneth Choi from 9-1-1. So the emotional instability angle doesn’t exactly scream “wrongly accused saint.”
What does work surprisingly well is the tension. For a film where the protagonist is literally tied to a chair for the better part of the running time, it does keep the pace going. The countdown clock does a lot of the heavy lifting, but it gets the job done. The pacing is extremely fast, sometimes almost too fast. You get quick bursts of character info, then bam, on to the next revelation. There’s barely time to process one plot point before another breadcrumb gets tossed your way.
The relationship between Pratt and Judge Maddox, played by Rebecca Ferguson, is one of the better aspects of this flick. Their growing partnership, which is both professional and slightly personal, is a much-needed addition to the film, which could have otherwise been a completely mechanical thriller. Ferguson brings that robotic presence that balances Pratt’s frantic energy.
The downside? The 90-minute limit and all the tools ot prove yourself (which, conveniently, only the accused can access – so I guess innocent people don’t get cool tech perks?) leave little room to truly know the characters. It’s all urgency, all the time. Effective for suspense, not so much for depth.
That said, as a high-concept whodunnit with an inherent ticking clock, Mercy is entertaining. It handles its twists well enough to keep you guessing, even if the logic behind the AI sometimes seems like it was written in a lunch break coding session. If you’re in the mood for something interesting with a possible caution flag and aren’t particular about a few glaring algorithmic errors, Mercy is definitely worth watching.
