Mercy: A Nonsensical, Unoriginal Real-Time Thriller (4K)

The Film:

Making a film that takes place in real time is always a remarkably delicate tightrope walk. Not only does the continuity have to be strictly on point, but before you even get there, you have to make sure that the story itself is one that can withstand the pressure of being told in such a specific fashion. That is to ask, is it engaging & compelling enough to keep the audience's attention or will seeing every detail across every minute of its telling merely bore them in the attempt to be realistic?

There have been great films throughout cinematic history that have used the method quite effectively, classics like "High Noon" and "12 Angry Men, or a little more recently with "Phone Booth" and "United 93," but, of course, not all such films turn out so well ("88 Minutes" and "Silent House" come to mind). This brings us to the latest feature from director Timur Bekmambetov ("Night Watch," "Wanted") entitled "Mercy," which attempts to give us a fast-paced, real-time thriller that has the protagonist up against a ticking clock. Can he possibly deliver one that has viewers on the edge of their seats, or will it simply have them counting down the seconds of that very same clock?

Taking place in 2029 Los Angeles, a new AI judgment system known as "Mercy" has been developed to try violent offenders in order to deal with a surge in crime. The judge is given access to all devices & evidence in the cloud in order to render an accurate judgment, with the defendant being given 90 minutes to either prove their innocence or be executed. LAPD Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), an advocate for the system, happens to find himself before AI Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson), having been accused of murdering his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis). With all the evidence making the probability of his guilt extremely high, Chris is faced with the remarkably difficult task of using the vast resources at hand to prove his innocence in the allotted time, or else find himself a victim of the very program he supported.

Right at the top, we need to address the major elephant in the room, that being that this premise is about one step away from being a total rip-off of "Minority Report," telling a story about a system developed to deal with crime/criminals and an advocate for said system that gets framed & ensnared within it, forcing them to get to the bottom of the mystery to prove their innocence. The only significant difference here is that the system is meant to deal with criminals after the fact, as opposed to dealing with criminals before the fact (on top of the accused being forced to stay in one place for most of it), but even so, one has to imagine that this had to go through a few rewrites in order to make it different enough to avoid a lawsuit. It's not uncommon to borrow certain story elements from other sources, but this is quite a specific premise to be lifting directly from elsewhere, so from the get-go, the film is facing quite a deficit of originality.

That said, the idea of having to prove your innocence before an all-knowing AI judge is a mildly interesting one, but that merely makes you wish that the story made any kind of sense. Why the arbitrary 90-minute countdown? Obviously it's simply a function that enables the filmmakers to present their story within a reasonable runtime, but in the context of the film, it's completely nonsensical. Even if you can put that aside, we're also left with the question of why this new system would negate the defendant's right to a lawyer. Obviously most people aren't going to know how to mount an effective defense on their own, especially when it comes to serious crimes of this nature, so once again we're left scratching our heads as to how these bizarre plot elements are supposed to work within the confines of the narrative.

If you're able to move on from its strangely nonsensical nature, unfortunately you still have to deal with the rather sloppy execution of the premise, which basically proceeds as one long web search through phones, cameras, and documents, all of which builds to a series of ludicrous twists that attempt to turn this isolated legal thriller into an action film by the end. When it comes right to it, it becomes abundantly clear that there were several elements of the project that were quite misguided. Not only is it very nearly a blatant rip-off of another story, but even with the few pieces of original material within, screenwriter Marco van Belle fails to build any tension because of the bland way it's presented, along with the aforementioned absurd restrictions of the plot. Van Belle and Bekmambetov may have thought that they had a cool little tech thriller on their hands, but sadly what they ended up with was something of a garbled mess that never comes together.

Video/Audio:

"Mercy" comes to 4K in a 2.20:1, 2160p Ultra High Definition transfer of marvelous quality, featuring a beautifully sharp & clear picture throughout its 99-minute duration that perfectly highlights its multitude of visual effects. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos-TrueHD audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, MGM has done a wonderful job in both departments for the film's 4K debut.

Special Features:

None.

Conclusion:

Timur Bekmambetov's "Mercy" wants to be a cool little tech thriller about a man desperately trying to prove his innocence within a brief 90 minutes, but with its distinct lack of originality, sloppy execution, and some strangely nonsensical plot elements, it ends up being a rather misguided mess that ultimately leaves very little impact.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on 4K starting tomorrow.

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