Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt)
wakes up in a metal chair. In fact, his wrists are locked in to the chair arms.
In front of him is a huge flatscreen showing a close-up of a woman’s face (Rebecca
Ferguson). She turns out to be an AI.
The AI informs Chris he is on
trial, but he already knows what this is. In Los Angeles, the crime and
homeless problems have become so bad, the traditional courts were overwhelmed.
A new system was put in place: Sophisticated AI judges preside over criminal
cases now. A case only lasts 90 minutes, which has cleared the caseload. Oh, and
the accused is presumed guilty and has to prove his innocence. The chair nicely
doubles as the execution spot.
Chris is accused of the murder of
his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis). Chris is shocked. He didn’t
know she was dead. The courtroom has multiple screens that zoom in, zoom out,
and project in 3-D. Footage shows him pulling into work, but abruptly pulling out.
He goes to his house, where Nicole forbids him to come in, saying it’s not his
house anymore. He goes in. After some minutes, he comes out.
Nicole was stabbed to death. Her
blood was found on Chris’ clothing. No one else went in an out during that time
period, since their daughter was away. Chris doesn’t remember what happened.
As the case unfolds, it turns out
Chris is a lapsed alcoholic. Videos show him in violent bouts of rage. Chris is
crushed. He starts to wonder if he did kill Nicole.
But he makes requests
for other video footage, as is his right. The AI judge snoops into files in a
way we would currently find intrusive—especially with so many cameras around. Think
your doorbell cameras are your business? Think again. It turns out Nicole was
seeing another man. Chris contacts his partner, Jaq (Kali Reis), as is his
right. Jaq takes off on her mini-helicopter, which is slightly larger than a motorcycle.
Will this new development help Chris?
I was intrigued by
this movie because of the sharp divide in reviews. A very popular site showed
the professional reviewers gave a positive rating of only somewhat over 20%.
But average viewers gave it over 80%. It’s true that every audience is a selective
audience, so it can have its own bias. And yet, this is a science fiction
mystery and detective movie starring Chris Pratt. Not a bad bias.
Mercy was an enjoyable
thrill ride. The story unfolds in real time, so we watch as Chris desperately
tries to figure out what is going on in 90 minutes. It’s interesting to watch
Chris Pratt struggle in the chair he’s locked into at each plot twist, looking
like his blood pressure is jetting up. And speaking of jetting, the mini-helicopter
looks completely real when taking off, flying, and going into a hard landing. Chris
sees all this on the multiple screens in the courtroom, while other
developments play on others.
Rebecca
Ferguson is fascinating at the AI Judge. Her beautiful face says
outrageous things to Chris about the judicial process without changing
expression. But she suddenly shows emotion at various developments, which is
disorienting, as it’s obviously meant to be.
Does the investigation get
breakthroughs a little too fast at times? Yes. But they are good at doing some information
overload to cover that.
So I’ll side with the rest of the
audience in saying Mercy is an enjoyable but disquieting view of a
future with Ais given too much of a role in society. As a caution, Chris Pratt’s
first few sentences are filled with vulgarities as he tries to figure out what
is going on. Thankfully, the rest of the movie doesn’t sound like that.
