Mercy Parent Guide

It’s 2029, and record-breaking crime levels in Los Angeles have pushed the city towards extreme solutions – segregated areas in downtown for alleged violent criminals, massive police presence, and worst of all, the Mercy Courts. Rather than wasting time with jurors, lawyers, or judges, the Mercy program gives those accused of serious crimes 90 minutes with an AI judge. Failure to alleviate the computer’s belief in your guilt within that time results in summary execution. 

Currently in the hot seat is robbery/homicide detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), accused of the murder of his wife. Chris is one of Mercy’s biggest supporters and has sent dozens of people into this very chair. His AI judge, Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson), duly informs him that he’s been arrested for the murder of his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis) that same morning. She calculates the odds of his guilt at 97%. And now he has 90 minutes to bring that number down.

There are numerous issues with this premise. I don’t begrudge anybody a sci-fi dystopia, and governments do crazy things all the time – it’s the way that this bizarre system works that makes it difficult to get immersed in the plot. See, once Chris is in the chair, the AI provides all kinds of resources to allow him to prove his innocence, including unrestricted access to other people’s phones, emails, business files, the works. In what society is the justice system going to sign off on people accused of violent crimes being given a big magnifying glass on everybody peripherally related to their crime? That’s a lot of power to give a guy with a lifespan you can measure on an egg timer. 

If you’re willing to wade your way through some similarly goofy plot holes, Mercy isn’t a half bad thriller. It’s well paced with plenty of little twists and turns, and if you’re already tuned out enough to ignore the plot holes, it’ll probably feel a little less predictable. What parents won’t be able to tune out, though, are the violence and profanity. Several dozen profanities and some bloody violence are the standout issues, but there are also depictions of alcoholism and teen drug and alcohol use. 

It may be slightly unfair to this film, but the near-future-whacko-justice-system niche is firmly occupied by the classic Minority Report, and that’s not a terribly favorable comparison for Mercy to be stuck in. This production has some good ideas mixed in here and there, but putting chocolate chips (or even Rebecca Ferguson) on the compost pile just isn’t enough for a Michelin star.