REVIEW: “Mercy” (2026)

(Source: IMDb) 

Honestly, I didn’t have much interest in this futuristic sci-fi thriller when the first trailer rolled out. For one thing, we’ve seen this concept before in films like The Fugitive and Minority Report. The story’s protagonist—accused of murder—is fighting for his life to prove his innocence while investigating who is really behind the central perpetration(s) and conspiracies. 

Like Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise before him, Chris Pratt has shown that he can carry a tentpole flick with confidence, charisma, and gravitas. In Mercy, he plays police officer Chris Raven, who is put on trial and has ninety minutes to prove his innocence or face execution. Beyond his wife’s murder, there’s evidence that he struggles with alcoholism, that she had an affair, and that a fellow officer’s unexpected death made it hard for him to cope. 

In spite of its aforementioned generic elements—not to mention its underperformance at the box-office—Mercy is actually a pretty decent genre entry. Granted, it is harsh (spewing an endless barrage of profanities) and violent (I.e., bloody images and shaky handheld perspectives), complete with intense, edge-of-your-seat chase sequences. (Mercy was also screened in 3D for select showings. Although I didn’t see it in that format, it would’ve been an interesting experience.) Even so, there were moments that surprised me and gripped me, regarding character motives, twists, and revelations—even amidst a lot of convoluted company conspiracies, emotionally-driven characters, and the differences between justice and vengeance. 

Unlike last year’s Flight Risk, director Timur Bekmambetov utilizes a Hitchcockian approach to a creative and clever effect. Set mostly in an enclosed room between Chris (chained to a chair) and Rebecca Ferguson’s AI judge Maddox, who resides over the artificial intelligence unit that he helped create and support amidst a nationwide crime epidemic, the film’s narrative (as well as exposition) is told in real time via a series of videos and recordings as the aforementioned “evidence.” Elements of how Chris got there, regrets he has over dark secrets and mistakes (including his struggles with alcoholism), as well as the lives he has affected (not for the better) and the differences between facts and truth, also play key roles in this decent cyber entry. Strap in for a decent roller-coaster.