"When Pratt's character, Chris Raven, wakes up, barefoot and strapped into an electric chair sitting in the middle of an oddly large room that looks a bit like the holodeck, he's informed by an IMAX-sized AI judge (Ferguson) that he has 90 minutes to prove he didn't kill his wife (Annabelle Wallis). In this world, the incarcerated are guilty until proved innocent. They've cut lawyers and juries out of the equation as well."
"One of the most confounding choices is to have a real actor playing the AI judge. Wouldn't it have been more interesting and provocative to use an AI creation as the impartial Judge Maddox instead of stripping Ferguson of all emotion and charisma in the role? At times, it feels as tedious as watching a stranger's increasingly frustrating call with a robotic customer service representative play out in real time."
Mercy places a visible countdown clock onscreen for most of its runtime and follows Chris Raven waking strapped to an electric chair and told by an IMAX-sized AI judge that he has 90 minutes to prove he did not kill his wife. The film depicts a legal system where the incarcerated are presumed guilty, with lawyers and juries removed and defendants forced to use digital footprints to build defenses. Casting a real actor as the AI judge mutes emotional range. Kali Reis's agent conducts ground investigations but is often limited to screens, leaving the movie feeling overly screen-bound and tedious. The persistent countdown becomes an endurance test rather than effective suspense.
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