'Mercy' Review
- Connor Petrey
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Release Date: 01/23/26 [Cinemas]
Genre: Action. Crime. Drama. Mystery. SciFi. Thriller.
MPAA: Rated PG13.
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios.
The Verdict: A Maybe
Timur Bekmambetov’s Mercy is a ridiculous whodunnit that implements 90% Screenlife with a majority of the film taking place throughout surveillance, drones, social media, and video calls. The other 10% revolves around Chris Pratt’s Chris Raven secured to a chair, investigating and pleading his case to a screen, as he is accused of murdering his wife, with only 90 minutes to prove his innocence.
This film is heavily advertised as an IMAX 3D experience, and in full transparency, I saw this in a 2D standard screening. There are numerous digital snap zooms and atmospheric moments that feel odd in this format, but in the context of 3D makes a lot more sense. Nonetheless, the necessity of seeing it in IMAX or 3D feels like an unnecessary addition for the type of picture on display.
Chris Pratt is primarily acting against no one, starring primarily directly into the camera and stating his case. Pratt is giving a reasonable perspective for someone so involved with the program of Mercy, only to have it turned against him. Rebecca Ferguson as AI judge, jury, and executioner, Judge Maddox, plays the film realistically straight and deadpan compared to the truth of the state of today’s world. While this film takes place several years in the future and portrays AI in a relatively positive light, it still proposes that neither humans nor technology is perfect.
For a 100-minute film, where 90 of it takes place with Pratt secured to essentially an electric chair waiting for the timer to run out, Mercy offers a fascinating experience that isn’t as adrenaline-based as the trailers make it out to be. While the intensity may wane from the pace, the film never wavers in its interest in the mystery unfolding. One of the film’s biggest flaws, however, is the fact that there aren't a ton of actors in the film, which limits the number of possibilities in terms of suspects outside of the obvious man in the chair, front and center.
Not far from the reality we live in today, the Mercy program is an interesting proposal of what if we relied on technology to quickly and effectively (?) provide a verdict. Everyone is presumed guilty until confirmed otherwise. If you can get past the overtly serious tone, the film is a truly captivating if not absurd mystery that is both entertaining and simultaneously horrifying.
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