(2026) Mercy - A Suspenseful and Intense Sci-Fi Action Thriller Movie

This movie was made available for advance ticket sale last week. Since my wife and I were available this week, we decided to buy the tickets for yesterday's show. It has been a while since we did such thing, so it felt pretty fun, especially since we saw this in the afternoon with very few people in the studio. OK then, let's just get on with it.

Brief Story Line

Set in the near future in Los Angeles where crime rate was very high, the government decided to create a Justice System called Mercy using Artifical Intelligence to decide whether a suspect was guilty or innocent by using evidence and facts acquired from all possible venues. The system also act as Judge, Jury and Executioner and was a huge success, reducing crime for the past two years.

However Mercy had its most challenging case when Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt - The Terminal List: Dark Wolf TV series, The Super Mario Bros. Movie etc) who was one of the first to support the system was on trial for murder, with Judge Maddox (portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson - A House of Dynamite, Dune: Part Two etc) presiding the case. All evidence pointed to Chris as the only possible murderer and he had 90 minutes to prove his innocence, otherwise he would be executed. With the help from his partner Detective Jaq Diallo (Kali Reis - Cateh the Fair One, True Detective: Night Country mini series etc), Chris tried to find out the truth while convincing his daughter Brit (Kylie Rogers - Cheaper by the Dozen 2022 version, Home Before Dark TV series etc) and his AA sponsor Rob Nelson (Chris Sullivan - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, This is Us TV series etc) that he could not have done the crime.

So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

I have always admired films that used computer/smartphone to show events in real time as I thought it was an intelligent way of story telling (referred to as Screenlife). Although this movie was not entirely shown from a personal computer screen but rather from the point of view of AI system, I think it had some of those elements which made it interesting. My wife and I were entertained by the quick pace and intensity due to its time sensitive nature and some plot twists even if both of us were able to guess. There were even a bit of action to add the suspense.  

The movie was not exactly real time like that very famous 24 TV series which was a major hit during early 2000, but the way it was shown sometimes made me feel it was. It has a duration of 100 minutes including closing credits without any mid or post end credit scene. There were some special effects used here which was probably the reason for its not so small budget (or perhaps it was to pay salary of the cast?). Anyway the film was actually completed in the year 2024, however it was only released in January 2026 (delayed from its original slot of August 2025). We were pretty fortunate in Indonesia to be able to see it before its wide release in the US on this Friday.  

The cast did a decent job to my opinion, though sadly some commented that Chris Pratt was a miscast. Maybe because he was so used to portraying playful/not serious characters, so people felt he was not suitable in this kind of role. Although my wife and I originally felt that way, but we thought he did OK enough. Audience did praise Rebecca Ferguson who looked convincing portraying AI character. In addition to the names above, there were also appearances of Annabelle Wallis (Vanished Into the Night, Mine etc) as Chris' wife Nicole, Jeff Pierre (Walker TV series etc) as person of interest Patrick Burke, Kenneth Choi (9-1-1 TV series, All That We Love etc) as Chris' former partner Ray and several others in minor capacity. 

The movie itself was directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Ben Hur 2016 remake, Wanted etc). He was well known as pioneer for Screenlife films such as Unfriended, Searching and few others where he served as Producer. It was written by Marco Van Belle (Arthur & Merlin). Unfortunately this movie was poorly received by critics and a lot of audience which to me was a bit confusing. Aside from the rather abrupt and so-so ending, I felt it was overall satisfying. Regardless of the negative reactions, my wife and I thought it was enjoyable and did not deserve its huge criticism. But then again, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

So if you are interested in seeing an intense, time sensitive movie with a unique way of storytelling, then I think you would enjoy this one like me and my wife. However, if you are very critical and nitpicking of every little thing, then likely you would not be satisfied with the movie. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars