It's the future, a bright, glorious future where AI is not only our friend, it's also our justice system, judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one and called Mercy and presidesed over by Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson). Crimbos who've committed capital crimes wake up strapped to a chair and have 90 minutes to prove their innocence or be executed on the spot. And case #19 is alcoholic LAPD Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) who wakes up after a bender to find himself strapped into the chair and facing execution for the murder of his wife. Naturally he's innocent, but can he prove it? What makes it even more amazing is that Raven is the cop who sent the first criminal to the Mercy chair, hmmm, I wonder if that's connected? Now he has less time than the running time of the film to prove he's not guilty armed with only every single bit of digital information at Maddox's disposal from all phone records, CTV footage, emails, texts, smoke signals, morse-code, semaphore, and every other form of communication ever devised by man including every single photo ever saved to the cloud. Plus, the ability to phone whomever he wants to or needs to prove his innocence, and Maddox is more than keen to help him too. Oh, and the entire police force and all his buddies who are all keen to prove his innocence and willing to do whatever it is to save his life, despite all the evidence pointing to the fact Raven killed his wife in a crime of passion. But when Raven points out how was that possible when he had no passion for his wife, Maddox begins to believe he might just be what he says he is, innocent. Then he starts to uncover something that looks like a huge conspiracy and then it all goes ape-shit stupid.
Directed by Russian director Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov, he what directed such classics as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Unfriended and the extraordinarly awful 2025 classic War of the Worlds. Actually he also directed the much loved Night Watch and Wanted. This is a kinetic, frantic and frenzied action flick made more remarkable by fact that our two lead characters, Raven and Maddox are for 90% of this film just head and shoulder shots and sitting down, although that doesn't prevent everyone else running their little hearts out, or flying massive four-turbine man-sized drones, or engaging in chaotic gun battles to a pounding soundtrack. Actually it doesn't stop Raven either.
The trouble is that what starts as quite an intriguing premise begins to spiral out of control as Hollywood demands their highly paid action-orientated hero get some action in the final act, but not before he manages to solve and uncover an utterly ridiculous conspiracy involving an half-ton of explosives hidden in a runaway truck and a conspiracy at the very heart of the Mercy program itself that if exposed to cause the very fabric LA society to come crashing down.
Seriously.
Chris Pratt is beginning to wear thin, funny as hell in Parks and Recreations, highly amusing and charismatic in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1. and those two Marvel films with Thanos, he's being repositioned as a serious man of action and he just doesn't have the chops. Sure he's capable of sweating and frowning like a bitch, but that's about it. Although it's not really his fault in this, I suppose. The plot is so ridiculous there's not a lot he can do to salvage it. And spare a thought for Rebecca Ferguson who only exists from the neck up and doesn't even get to turn her head left or right, let alone smile, or frown. She's as one dimensional as her human co-star.
Added to that is the plot that as it unravels becomes more and more ludicrous in its revelations. I mean you can guess who's the guilty parties right off the bat, not through detection but through piss poor acting, then added to that is the fact the film suddenly changes gear, not once but twice in the final act, before ending with a shouty final face off which in turn triggers one last reveal before the whole film just ends with a jarring full-stop, leaving a huge question hanging as to what the outcome of these revelations would be to the fictitious world they take place in?
Mercy, I plead, please, Mercy.
4/10
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