Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Atlas Entertainment and Bazelevs Company’s Mercy (dubbed from the Hollywood film of the same name; UA) is the story of AI-driven justice system.
A respected police officer, Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), who was instrumental in designing a state-of-the-art AI-driven justice system, finds himself accused of murdering his wife. He must now race against time to prove his innocence because judgement is passed in 90 minutes of the commencement of the trial. Delivering the judgement is an AI judge — Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson).
Marco van Belle has written a story that may be futuristic but it, nevertheless, appears relevant because of the way Artificial Intelligence is taking over our lives. Belle’s story may be new but the screenplay doesn’t keep the viewers completely satisfied even though it is fast-paced. That is probably because the drama often appears unbelievable and ahead of the times. Because of the role of AI in delivering justice, several points in the screenplay look like instances of convenient writing.
Chris Pratt gives a fine performance as police officer Chris Raven. Rebecca Ferguson is effective as judge Maddox. Annabelle Wallis is alright as Chris Raven’s wife, Nicole Raven. Kylie Rogers is okay as Chris’ daughter. Kali Reis (as Chris’ partner, Jacqueline Diallo), Chris Sullivan (as Chris’ friend, Rob Nelson), Kenneth Choi (as Ray Vale), Rafi Gavron (as Holt Charles), Jeff Pierre (as Patrick Burke) and Tom Rezvan (as the governor) lend good support.
Timur Bekmambetov’s direction is fairly nice. Ramin Djawadi’s background music is alright. Khalid Mohtaseb’s cinematography is appealing. Alex McDowell’s production designing is of a fine standard. Editing (by Austin Keeling and Lam T. Nguyen) is sharp. Dubbing is proper.
On the whole, Mercy may be a well-made film but its chances at the box-office are bleak.
Released on 23-1-’26 at Metro Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Sony Pictures Films India Pvt. Ltd. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.
