{"id":13937,"date":"2026-01-25T17:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=13937"},"modified":"2026-02-21T16:51:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T21:51:26","slug":"mercy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/01\/25\/mercy\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Mercy<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon MGM\/Sci-Fi-Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 100 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (violence, bloody images, some strong language, drug content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Timur Bekmambetov\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Marco van Belle\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Ramin Djawadi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Khalid Mohtaseb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 23, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Kylie Rogers, Chris Sullivan, Jeff Pierre, Rafi Gavron, Kenneth Choi, Jamie McBride, Ross John Gosla.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0All signs pointed to Mercy<\/strong> being a stinker. It was supposed to come out last August before being bumped to a January release date. That typically spells trouble. There was something else though, something I\u2019ve never encountered before. It was this past week\u2019s AMC Screen Unseen\/Regal Mystery Movie feature presentation. However, it was presented exclusively in IMAX. I couldn\u2019t understand why it wasn\u2019t on the schedule at my local AMC until I learned this tidbit of info. If you\u2019ve seen the ads for Mercy<\/strong>, you know the studio is aggressively pushing audiences to see it in IMAX or 3D (or both) even though it hardly deserves the Avatar treatment. Don\u2019t you see it? It\u2019s a marketing ploy designed to increase box office by convincing viewers to shell out the additional money. Now that\u2019s what I call shameless. Whether it works or not remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0By all accounts, Mercy<\/strong> should be a bad movie. That\u2019s what I expected as I entered the cinema where I saw the abysmal Return to Silent Hill the day before. I steeled myself for a similar experience as I took my usual seat. Then a funny thing happened. I started enjoying Mercy<\/strong>. By no means is it a great movie or even a particularly good one. It definitely doesn\u2019t need to be seen in IMAX or 3D. It\u2019s shallow when it comes to exploring its deeper themes regarding AI and the dangers of becoming too reliant on it. It is, however, entertaining on a surface level. The storyline held my interest throughout. That\u2019s more than I can say for the previous night\u2019s film.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the future depicted in Mercy<\/strong>, justice is handled by an AI program called the Mercy Court. Defendants are taken before a virtual judge where they are given 90 minutes to prove their innocence. They can review footage, examine crime scenes and talk to potential witnesses. If they can\u2019t get their guilt level under 92%, they\u2019re found guilty and executed on the spot. Basically, we\u2019re looking at a judge, jury and executioner situation here.<\/p>\n

\u00a0LAPD Detective Chris Raven (Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3) finds himself before AI Judge Maddow (Ferguson, Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation) accused of murdering his wife Nicole (Wallis, Malignant) in their home. All evidence points to him as the killer. He claims he\u2019s innocent. His guilt level is at 97.5%. He must prove his innocence before the clock runs out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Most of Mercy<\/strong> consists of Raven strapped in a chair looking at screens while Maddox looks on emotionlessly. Being a machine, she only cares about facts and what can be proven. He frantically reviews footage looking for other suspects and a possible motive. His partner Jaq (Reis, True Detective) does all the leg work. He keeps calling his teen daughter Britt (Rogers, Yellowstone) who doesn\u2019t know what to believe. During his investigation, Raven uncovers secrets about people he thought he knew. It leads to a shocking discovery.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The whodunit part of Mercy<\/strong> isn\u2019t all that difficult. I was able to identify the true killer fairly early on. It\u2019s the why that\u2019s a surprise. And that\u2019s not even the \u201cshocking discovery\u201d I mentioned earlier although it\u2019s still a shock. No, the motive reveal is followed by something else. SPOILER ALERT! <\/strong>I\u2019ll say just one word: cover-up. Isn\u2019t there always? Anyway, that\u2019s the \u201cshocking discovery\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Searching), Mercy <\/strong>unfolds in real time much like the underrated thriller Nick of Time (1995). We\u2019re with the protagonist every second of the way as he attempts to get to the truth of matter before his time runs out. I\u2019ll grant that watching somebody look at footage isn\u2019t the most exciting thing in the world. It is, however, compelling. Mercy<\/strong> plays more like a police procedural with its depiction of how a murder investigation might play out in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s actually scary if you think about it. What happens when AI starts taking over? What happens to the justice system should somebody decide to automate it? The Constitution says that everybody is entitled to due process. I don\u2019t see that here. Where is Raven\u2019s lawyer? That\u2019s an inalienable right. What happens, does that go out the window in favor of efficiency and expediency? The thoughts that I just expressed here are more than you\u2019ll find in Mercy<\/strong>. It barely scratches the surface. The best sci-fi movies have something to say. This one doesn\u2019t find the words.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The performances are okay, I suppose. That is to say, they\u2019re not bad. Pratt does a passable job as a cop and family man struggling with alcoholism. He looks sufficiently panicked as he tries to deal with a frame-up that could cost him his life. Ferguson plays it perfectly as the AI judge, cold and emotionless. Some might criticize her performance based on that. I say it\u2019s precisely why it works. Rogers is pretty good as the rebellious teen daughter with secrets of her own.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Mercy<\/strong> contains a few decent action scenes including an exciting chase in the climax. I like some of the futuristic touches like the flying police cycles. Like I said, it\u2019s really not that bad of a movie. Sure, it\u2019s highly derivative of movies like Minority Report, Judge Dredd and Runaway (the one with Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons). So what? You can\u2019t expect anything too great from movies that come out this time of year. It\u2019s entertaining enough if you accept it on its own superficial terms.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercy (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon MGM\/Sci-Fi-Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 100 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (violence, bloody images, some strong language, drug content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Timur Bekmambetov\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Marco van Belle\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Ramin Djawadi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Khalid Mohtaseb\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 23, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Kylie Rogers, Chris Sullivan, Jeff Pierre, Rafi Gavron, Kenneth Choi, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mercy-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13940,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13937\/revisions\/13940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}