What can I say about the film Mercy…It’s an entertaining crime thriller that delivers in perfect time! What I mean is you get essentially a 90-minute crime movie that doesn’t waste your time. It gets straight to the point and that’s probably the best part of the movie. Mercy stars Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson. I have to admit, I did enjoy this movie more than I thought I would. After watching the trailer, I thought it would just be a poor man’s Minority Report and, in some ways, it might be, but that’s a good thing because unlike a story based on hey Philip K. Dike story It doesn’t delve too much in the philosophical and allegorical nature of science versus humanity. This is a story about a society trying to taper down crime by coming up with a court system that is run by AI and gives swift justice through a short trial process. But you’re dealing with artificial intelligence so of course nothing is perfect. Chris Pratt plays an LAPD detective put on trial for the murder of his wife and has 90 minutes to prove his innocence or he will be executed while Rebecca Ferguson plays the AI judge. Both give great performances that help drive this movie and make it worth watching.
I’m a big fan of crime thrillers, but if you’ve read my reviews in the past then you know I always complain about pacing within films. Very rarely do I come across a movie that has perfect pacing. This is one nails it. It’s not too long, it’s not too short, the timing is perfect. It’s not trying to be other crime thrillers that take a long time to tell a great story. I love the movie Heat and it certainly works as a nearly 3-hour movie, but you’re immediately put on a clock within this film. Chris Pratt’s detective character is strapped to a chair, put before the court, and has 90 minutes, plus we get to see the clock wind down has he’s trying to prove his innocence. It’s a brilliant concept. While this kind of movie that can spark a great philosophical discussion about artificial intelligence and its role in solving crimes, but it doesn’t do that. We get to the crime, we get to the case itself as the detectives are going over the crime scene, and most of the conversations are done through small screens like on a phone. It may not be very personal, but it’s a really use of technology on how it tells the story. This another great reason to watch it and there’s plenty of surprises. Of course, Chris Pratt’s character looks guilty, but not everything is what it seems and there is a great plot twist. Everybody gives a great performance, but Chris Pratt is at his best when trying to solve the real crime. Mercy reminded me of another great but underrated film where the story was told in perfect time. It’s a Johnny Depp film from the ’90s called Nick of Time. He plays a character that has 90 minutes to commit an assassination and save his daughter’s life and the movie is exactly 90 minutes.
Now I wouldn’t be a critic if I didn’t have some problems with the movie, but only Mercy knows what it is, it’s not trying to necessarily be Minority Report or other crime thrillers. the film does spark a great discussion about the use of AI especially how it can learn when it comes to human instinct or intuition. As a Star Trek fan anytime we deal with artificial intelligence, I always want it to be more like DATA because he wanted to learn the human condition to improve his programming and Star Trek: The next generation spent a lot of time over multiple episodes discussing those themes. It would be nice to delve into those ideas within a film like this, but again it’s not meant to be a story like that. At its core it is a crime investigation movie with the use of AI. I often talk about how movies feel like a pilot for a bigger story like a series and this movie certainly fits that example. I think there’s a great series that can be born from this film where we delve into the philosophical ramifications of AI. I would love to see something like that and maybe this movie would have been a little bit better if there were a couple of scenes where the creators talked about how AI should work within these kinds of parameters, much like Isaac Asimov’s robot stories delved into the idea of the three laws. There are some missed opportunities, but this movie is just a simple crime thriller, yes, that can work too,
However, there can be more to make the story better because the genius of great science fiction is when you do have those philosophical discussions about science and humanity. One of the films weaknesses is that we don’t get enough time to explore those concepts because it’s such a quick pace investigation movie. It doesn’t take away from the movie too much, but as a nerd I always want more. The verdict: this is a good movie. There are better crime thrillers out there. It’s not as good as Minority Report. You get great performances, a gritty crime movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and more importantly a clear and concise thriller that doesn’t waste your time. Once you start, it doesn’t let up until the end and that’s a good thing. Other movies or TV series can have those great philosophical discussions about science and humanity, Mercy gives you a great crime thriller against the backdrop of AI that will keep you entertained right up until the end. And it’s certainly a movie worth seeing in theaters.
