‘Mercy’ Review: Our AI Overlords Are Here

Timur Bekmambetov’s next screenlife action movie shows potential, but quickly squanders it in favour of AI apologia.

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Hey, I’m Bode! Like the great game designer Hideo Kojima, I like to think that (at least) 70% of my body is made out of art – films especially. It’s been that way since I was a child, when my first exposure to Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra Terrestrial sparked a love and a fascination for the medium that continues to this day. It’s to the point where voicing my opinions on it – from the good to the bad, the old to the new – is almost second nature to me. It’s how I’ve been able to make sense of my place in the world, especially as someone with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) – which I was diagnosed with as a child. For a long time, I found it hard to talk about with others, sometimes out of shame. But the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve been open about it – if only to give a sense of what living with it is like (spoiler alert: it has its issues). In addition to Cinema from the Spectrum (where I feel lucky to contribute some of my musings to), you can also find me on Bitesize Breakdown, a global collective of writers where reviews of the latest films and shows are spoiler-free and are around 100 words. I also have a Letterboxd, but that’s probably obvious by now.

February 25, 2026

3–4 minutes

There’s no getting around the fact that most of us spend our lives on screens, and credit to Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov: he’s been meeting us where we are.

See, in between his time making blockbusters in his home country (Night Watch, Day Watch) and in Hollywood (Wanted, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), he’s pioneered the Screenlife filmmaking movement – producing a number of low-budget films where viewers can see the action play out from the point-of-view of the computers, tablets or smartphones used by the characters. These films include the horror film Unfriended (and its superior standalone sequel Dark Web), thrillers Searching and Profile (the latter of which he also directed), and recently the Ice Cube-headlined adaptation of War of the Worlds – which was infamously panned by critics and audiences alike when dumped on streaming last year.

So, it seems only natural for Bekmambetov to try this approach (at lest somewhat) with a bigger budget ($60M reportedly) and bigger stars, with an IMAX 3D release to boot. With all these bells and whistles, Mercy should – ideally – pass the time reasonably. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Set in the year 2029 and essentially told in real-time, Mercy displays a future where Los Angeles’ crime rate has skyrocketed to a point where its entire justice system has been overhauled. That’s where the Mercy Capital Court comes in, a program where criminals are tried as guilty parties and are given approximately 90 minutes to prove their innocence beyond reasonable doubt. Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), the film’s main protagonist, is the program’s 19th case. Ironic, considering he helped create it. Accused for the murder of his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis), he’s given a short amount of time to prove his innocence to AI Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) or be executed via a sonic blast.

If you’re read that premise and thought it sounded like Minority Report . Funny enough, the two films even share a production designer in Alex McDowell. But the issues it touches on (the anxieties surrounding AI, the flaws of the justice system, our online selves vs. our real-life selves, etc) couldn’t be more relevant today. But because Bekmambetov and writer Marco van Belle seem to have no real ambition other than delivering glossy thrills, they’re merely window-dressing for the (not particularly gripping) mystery at the film’s centre. Admittedly, those cheap thrills almost work at points, largely due to a quick-enough pace and the frenetic post-digital effects at play (the 3D, though unnecessary, is rather decent).

But its unwillingness to meaningfully probe into these topics stick like a sore thumb, especially in moments that come off tone-deaf, what with how its POC characters are treated, and the film’s baffling final line (which could easily be taken as AI apologia).

The fact it’s delivered by an unconvincingly emotive Pratt certainly doesn’t help matters. It’s unfortunate how he continues to waste the potential he showed early on in his career on projects that clearly don’t suit him, and this is just another example, as he tries – and mostly fails – to flex his dramatic chops while tied to a chair. Ferguson, one of the best actors working today, sadly doesn’t fare all that much better. But to be fair, there’s only so much one can do when saddled with the role of a monotone AI judge.

The same can be said for other talented players like Wallis, Kali Reis (as Raven’s partner) and Kylie Rogers (as Raven’s daughter), all of whom are essentially wasted. Only the oft-reliable Chris Sullivan has a little more to work with as Raven’s AA sponsor, but it takes until the ridiculous final act for that to even occur (without spoiling anything, of course).

While I wouldn’t call Mercy a disaster by any means, it’s definitely a prime example of how even slightly promising concepts can be squandered with the wrong kind of execution. In other words, it’s a January movie!

The case rests.

Watch the trailer right here.

All images via Amazon MGM Studios.

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
Written by Marco van Belle
Produced by Charles Roven, Robert Amidon, Timur Bekmambetov, Majd Nassif
Starring Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, Kylie Rogers
Premiere Date: January 23, 2026
Running Time: 100 minutes

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