Chris Pratt’s AI Courtroom Thriller Mercy Stumbles With Critics

Chris Pratt, best known for his Marvel exploits, teams up with Rebecca Ferguson of Dune fame in the new science fiction drama Mercy. The film, set in a not-so-distant future, sees Pratt’s character—a detective—facing trial for his wife’s murder. The twist? He’s got just an hour and a half to clear his name before an artificial intelligence judge, portrayed by Ferguson, delivers a verdict. Despite the topical subject matter, the film’s reception has been anything but enthusiastic.

Mercy’s attempt to tap into current anxieties about artificial intelligence hasn’t impressed many reviewers. Instead of offering a fresh perspective, critics argue the film treads familiar ground, echoing the likes of Minority Report and Blade Runner without adding much of its own. As Linda Marric from HeyUGuys puts it,

“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.”

Alonso Duralde at The Film Verdict is similarly unimpressed, noting,

“[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.”

Critical Reception: A Lukewarm Response

Many reviewers have taken issue with the film’s narrative and execution. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star describes it as,

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

IndieWire’s Wilson Chapman echoes this sentiment, suggesting the production feels rushed and uninspired:

“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.”

Despite the general disappointment, a handful of critics have found some merit in the film. Peter Bradshaw at the Guardian calls it,

“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 of Variety offers a slightly more generous take, concluding,

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

Box Office Prospects and Rotten Tomatoes Woes

At the time of writing, Mercy’s Rotten Tomatoes score languishes at a mere 18%, based on 44 reviews. This marks one of the lowest points in Pratt’s career since his appearance in Movie 43 over a decade ago, with only the Netflix release The Electric State faring worse. For Ferguson, it’s her least well-received project since the 2017 horror outing The Snowman.

Mercy is set to open in cinemas on 23 January. Whether audiences will be kinder than the critics remains to be seen, but for now, the film stands as a rare misfire for its high-profile leads.