Movie: Mercy (PG-13)
My rating: ♦♦♦♦◊
Available: in theaters now
I recently watched the movie Mercy which came out at the end of January. It is a science fiction movie starring Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Parks and Rec).
The movie plot follows Pratt’s character Chris Raven, a detective who is on trial for his wife’s murder. He has to prove his innocence in what is called the mercy court to an AI judge within only 90 minutes or else he will be deemed guilty and face execution.
Going into it I was curious about how it would uphold a suspenseful feeling considering it takes place almost entirely in the court room, but to my surprise it did a good job keeping me invested and wanting to know what would happen next.
By using online resources such as security camera footage, calls and texts, social media posts, etc. the AI judge provided, we got to see the main character try and unravel the mystery as to what happened and prove his innocence.
This proves to be very difficult considering the AI judge obviously does not have feelings so he has to rely on solid facts and can’t appeal to emotion. In this sense the movie also shows some of the flaws that come with relying on or using AI in general.
As far as the acting goes I thought Chris Pratt did a great job in this role Supporting cast include Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible, Rogue Nation) as the judge, Annabelle Wallis (The Mummy, Silent Night) as the wife.
The film is directed by Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetova, a Kazakh-Russian filmmaker and tech entrepreneur who pioneered the screenlife filmmaking movement, responding to people’s lives migrating to the digital world of mobile gadgets.
Throughout the whole movie I kept getting more and more invested in the story as it went on. It did a great job at upholding suspense and surprising me with plot twists that I didn’t expect but that made perfect sense in the plot.
Overall, this film was very entertaining to watch and kept me on the edge of my seat. I would definitely recommend this movie if you are looking for action and science fiction.
