Chris Pratt’s AI Thriller Mercy Stumbles With Critics

Chris Pratt, known for his roles in blockbuster franchises, teams up with Rebecca Ferguson in the new science fiction thriller Mercy. Despite the star power, the film’s early reviews have been less than glowing, with many critics unimpressed by its take on artificial intelligence and justice. Set in a not-so-distant future, the story follows a detective, played by Pratt, who finds himself accused of his wife’s murder. He’s given just 90 minutes to clear his name before an AI judge, portrayed by Ferguson, delivers a verdict.

While the dangers and ethical dilemmas of AI are hot topics these days, reviewers reckon Mercy doesn’t bring anything fresh to the table. Instead, it’s been compared to earlier sci-fi classics, with some suggesting it simply rehashes ideas from films like Minority Report and Blade Runner without adding much of its own flavour.

Critical Reception: A Tough Crowd

Feedback from critics has been particularly tough.

“Ultimately, Mercy isn’t aggressively bad, it’s just really dumb. It borrows the aesthetic of superior sci-fi films, without grasping the soul of the genre,”

wrote Linda Marric. Alonso Duralde chimed in, saying the film

“purports to be a cautionary tale about putting legal justice into the hands of AI, but the movie’s real agenda is promoting the surveillance state as a way of fighting crime.”

Others have taken aim at the script and direction. Peter Howell described it as

“lazily written, chaotically directed and played out with all the zest of a convenience-store security video.”

Wilson Chapman echoed this sentiment, noting,

“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.”

Some Silver Linings Amid the Gloom

Not every review has been entirely negative. Peter Bradshaw found some merit, calling the film

“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.”

Owen Gleiberman also offered a slightly more positive take, saying,

“the movie turns out to be a notch or two better than you expect.”

Still, these more favourable opinions are in the minority. The film currently sits at a lowly 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 44 reviews. For Pratt, this is his lowest-rated film since Movie 43, released nearly 13 years ago, aside from the Netflix flick The Electric State. Ferguson, too, hasn’t seen such a poor reception since her 2017 horror outing, The Snowman.

Release and What’s Next

Mercy is set to hit cinemas on January 23. Despite the rough start, some punters might still be keen to check it out, if only out of curiosity. For those after a more satisfying sci-fi fix, there are plenty of other options to explore, with new TV shows and films arriving throughout the year.