Movie: “Mercy”
Release Date: Jan. 23, 2026
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller
Rating: D-
Much like an assembly line Netflix production, “Mercy” won’t go down as the most unwatchable, intolerable film of the year. What should make it offensive to moviegoers is its sheer laziness and the assumption that they’ll gladly pay IMAX prices to gobble up this cold Burger King meal of a movie because we might recognize the names on the poster.
The science fiction would-be thriller follows Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), an LAPD detective that pioneered the AI-powered Mercy Court system following the death of his trusted partner Ray (Kenneth Choi). Judge Maddox, the physical personification of the AI played by Rebecca Ferguson, is the judge, jury and executioner.
When a confused Chris wakes up locked in the small screen covered courtroom, he’s told his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis) has been murdered, and he’s the prime suspect, with a 97.5% probability of guilt. Chris has access to video calls, the entire cloud-based internet and essentially all private information such as texts and phone records — digital privacy be damned. If the one-and-a-half-hour clock hits zero, Chris is executed.
Since Chris had a strained relationship with Nicole and the AI court has an ironclad reputation, few of the people in his life believe in his innocence, especially his daughter Britt (Kylie Rogers). Chris’s current partner Jaq (Kali Reis) works to find evidence to exonerate Chris, even though she’s skeptical.
Pratt, who’s a solid actor with the right creative team, is dreadful. He’s either overacting, screaming or bizarrely nonchalant in the face of increasingly ludicrous plot developments. Ferguson, as titular AI Judge Maddox, is not able to salvage woeful dialogue combined with miscalculated characterization.
The dissonance of Maddox’s supposed robotic neutrality being constantly undercut by smug remarks and emotional outbursts make it increasingly difficult to take the story and its bizarre plot turns seriously, despite the fact you’re clearly intended to.
The supporting players have similarly little to work with, but Jeff Pierre, who plays a chef with a role to play in the investigation, achieves something rather remarkable. He’s clearly the worst performer in a cast that are all at the bottom of their games.
The rules of Mercy Court are consistently inconsistent. They constantly change based on what the plot needs, even if it brazenly contradicts an earlier scene. Its premise of an AI-powered courtroom seems intriguing and timely at first glance, but it quickly falls apart under closer inspection.
“Mercy” has no interest in the deeper implications of that premise, brushing off the concept of public reaction and resistance to the incredibly unethical and dystopian system it centers on as set dressing. What should’ve been a major part of the film that could’ve fueled actual interesting ideas and themes is an afterthought.
Despite the central ticking clock element, Mercy often lacks a sense of urgency. Why is Chris spending valuable minutes of what seems to almost certainly be the last hour of his life on an exposition dump? The clock leaves no time for contemplation, like all of the court’s rules, feeling arbitrary.
If the script must insist on such a short timeframe, which is absolutely nothing like how a real trial functions, focus on a few big moments and themes to let them breathe, rather than just constantly throwing in new nonsense. As constructed, the short runtime is, well, merciful, but a better script could’ve justified a 2-hour plus experience.
“Mercy” is competently made but utterly lacks creativity. Perhaps that’s fitting for a film that wants to be the techno-thriller of the AI era.