Reviews Are In For Chris Pratt-Led “Mercy”
The Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson-led “Mercy” is expected to be the film that will topple “Avatar: Fire and Ash” from the top of the box-office this weekend with the title tracking for a $10-13 million debut.
That’s a relatively soft start for Amazon MGM Studios’ theatrical ambitions this year – though they should do far better with the buzzy “Project Hail Mary” and the anticipated “Masters of the Universe”.
Unfortunately, the reviews aren’t kind to the sci-fi courtroom thriller. With 39 reviews counted, the title is at just 21% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 35 on Metacritic.
Multiple reviews call the film ludicrous, preposterous, convoluted, dumb and take issue with its pro-AI and pro-surveillance state themes. Here’s a sampling of reviews:
“The premise of ‘Mercy’ makes it sound like the sort of thin, doctrinaire anti-technology, anti-police-state thriller that Arnold Schwarzenegger would have starred in 40 years ago. But the movie turns out to be a notch or two better than you expect.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“It’s ingenious and watchable stuff, with cheeky twists, although the final escalation to full-on action mayhem is maybe a step too far towards pure absurdity. The film is also a bit lenient on AI: “Human or AI – we all make mistakes.” Uh … yeah. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Raven and Judge Maddox revive their human-digital chemistry for a sequel.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“The work of everyone involved — from the sleepy performances to the crew doing an okay but never exemplary job — suggests a first draft, a sense of wanting to get the thing out and move on. At every minute of ‘Mercy,’ you can practically hear the filmmakers saying: ‘Eh, it’s January. Good enough.’” – Wilson Chapman, IndieWire
“Mercy takes a more bombastic approach with more speculative technology, only to chicken out of using that bombast to do anything other than jostle the audience through a series of contrived absurdities. If this is the future of crime thrillers, everyone needs their screentime severely curtailed.” – Jesse Hassenger, The AV Club
“Takes a pass at mashing-up the ‘screenlife’ genre with a proper big-screen sci-fi/action blockbuster and comes up with ‘What If Minority Report But Stupid?’ as a result.” – Bob Chipman, Moviebob Central
“Lazily written, chaotically directed and played out with all the zest of a convenience-store security video, it lacks not only vision and purpose but the faintest hint of entertainment.” – Peter Howell, Toronto Star
“This feels like an alarming glimpse into a world I want no part of — one where our entertainment isn’t so much as created by AI, but explicitly tailored for those who no longer care enough to see the difference” – Jeremy Mathai, Slashfilm
“Mercy is not a good movie, with hackneyed dialogue and stock performances that, ironically, seem like they themselves could have been generated by AI. But worse than that, it’s a movie that pushes insidious views about AI, law enforcement, and privacy laws under the guise of a brains-off action thriller” – Audrey Fox, Looper
The 100-minute PG-13 release is set in a near future where a detective (Chris Pratt) stands on trial accused of murdering his wife. He has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the advanced A.I. Judge (Rebecca Ferguson) he once championed, before it determines his fate.
Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) directs the film, which opens in cinemas Friday.