"MERCY" REVIEW

Published on 1/29/2026

Written by: Braylon Mitchell 

Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov

Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Chris Sullivan, etc. 

Plot: Set in the near future, a detective accused of murdering his wife has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to an advanced AI judge. 

REVIEW 

This is a prime example of the type of film where its studio has no confidence in it so they dump it into a January release date. Not every single film that is dumped into the wasteland of being a major studio new release in January turns out to be a bad film, but it's a rare to be an exception- and "Mercy" is no exception. The initial premise of this film is interesting on paper, I'll give it that, but what good is an interesting premise if it isn't executed in an interesting way? After just a few scenes into the film, the whole concept of our protaginist being "judged" in court increasingly becomes way too far fetched especially in how hammy the use of it's main plot devices are- the AI judge (played by Ferguson) using body cams, Face Time calls, past recorded videos, and other devices of that sort in a willy-nilly manner that even for a sci-fi story doesn't feel believable in the slightest. In essence, it's similar to films like "Searching" and "Missing" where the film is told entirely through phone or laptop- but differing from those examples, this film spells out the entire investigation without an ounce of originality in it's story or use of technology. 

I will admit, for as predictable as the film is- one twist at the ending did surprise me, and it did so because it felt so forced in at the last minute that the pay off within the film is pretty much nonexistent. There is a lot of effort put into making the judge feel human too, by the end of the film leaving us with a message that fully comes across as "hey, AI can have a conscious!". The message that society is behind the injustice of leaving justice int the hands of AI is present throughout, but for a film that has no problem spelling everything out- that theme is not nearly as focused on as it should've been. Not to mention, that whole message is kind of thrown away in the last few minutes as the ending twist I mentioned earlier is absolutely used a scapegoat. The film feels unsure of itself thematically. This film isn't necessarily even a mess, it's more so just a poorly written, flatly directed film that whether intentional or not in this current cultural climate comes across as irresponible in it's messaging. 

THREE BEST ELEMENTS

• Rebecca Ferguson gives a good performance, as she always does. 

• The editing is effective enough. 

• Certain elements of the story reminded me of "The Fugitive" which made me happy because it allowed me to think about how much better of a film that is. 

WORST ELEMENT 

• It wastes the premise of a potentially creative courtroom thriller by blowing up into a dull investigation with its very far fetched use of storytelling through technology. 

RATING

3/10

Don't watch it, buddy!