- Director: Timur Bekmambetov
- Screenplay: Marco van Belle
- Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, Kylie Rogers
- Cinematography: Khalid Mohtaseb
- Editing: Austin Keeling, Lam T. Nguyen
- Score: Ramin Djawadi
- Genre: Science fiction action thriller
- Runtime: 100 minutes
It’s man versus machine. The man in question, LAPD Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), is on trial for the murder of his wife. It’s no ordinary trial; in a Los Angeles rampant with poverty and rising crime rates, the notion of having a jury and a (human) judge is a thing of the past. The alternative: an AI judge. This saves time and resources, but leaves out any humanity involved in the process.
Chris, strapped to a high-tech electric chair, has just 90 minutes to prove his innocence before the AI arbiter or be executed. All on the same day as his arrest and the homicide itself. It’s a swift and brutal form of punishment. No lawyer present to argue on his behalf, no family or friends silently willing him on from behind. He’s alone in an empty room, save for a screen. The judge, a humanoid face (that of Rebecca Ferguson), has no sympathy for him whatsoever. Her hair slicked back, her dead eyes glaring at him as the clock ticks down. Ferguson is brilliantly impersonal.
With the entire data cloud at his disposal, all Chris can do is sift through the various camera footage and email servers in the hope of catching the true killer. The moment the proceedings started, the odds were stacked against him. Artificial intelligence is used to calculate the probability of guilt based on sheer facts. In reality, it’s known to lie; to invent things out of nothing to ensure the goal of providing information when prompted is achieved.
This is what justice looks like in the near future. ‘Mercy‘ is set in 2029, only three short years from now. We’ve placed so much of our trust in technology that I can see this unsettling concept being implemented for real.
The film itself could be a product of AI; while the CGI visuals are crisp, the plot is spoonfed to the audience. I’m not sure AI has mastered a sense of excitement so therefore I deem ‘Mercy‘ to have been created by humans – it’s entertaining fare; a popcorn flick and a cautionary tale.
My rating: 6 / 10
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