“We just did what we’re programmed to do. Human or AI. We all make mistakes … and we learn.”
This film feels like what would happen if Minority Report and Source Code had a baby. Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson give it their all, and while the film can be exhilarating at times, it wasn’t a mind-blowing experience. The premise is as follows: in the not so distant future (2029 to be exact), Los Angeles establishes Mercy Capital Court in response to a surge in crime using artificial intelligence (AI) judges to try defendants for violent offenses. To assemble evidence, all devices are registered to the municipal cloud to allow the AI judge to pass judgement. The AI judge also gives the defendants all available resources to find and provide all the evidence needed to prove their innocence in 90 minutes or be executed via a sonic blast. Pratt’s character finds himself in that very predicament, facing execution for the alleged murder of his wife. Rounding out the cast is Rebecca Ferguson as the A.I. judge passing judgement, Annabelle Wallis as Pratt’s character’s deceased wife, Kenneth Choi, and Chris Sullivan.
As I said, we’ve seen something like this before. The most notable example being a certain Tom Cruise-led film about a wrongly convicted person forced to prove their innocence. Even so, this film is not without some originality. I liked the bit about Pratt’s character, who is also named Chris, being an opponent of the technology and finding himself having to work with the technology as his only means of proving his innocence. That for me added an additional layer of tension, because he hates the technology, but he also has to embrace it if he wants to get to the truth.
I also like the idea that the protagonist is on the clock, although logic detects that I am skeptical of the likelihood of all that transpired occurring within a 90-minute window. Los Angeles rush hour traffic alone could take up to 90 minutes. However, if you put that aside, it does add to the story’s exhilaration, as I did find myself watching that clock and leaning in to see if he’d be able to prove his innocence in time. Then the film segues into familiar territory as Pratt’s character essentially puts himself in harm’s way in favor of his freedom in order to pursue justice. This is a pretty common trope, and while it was to be expected, it does not make it any less a trope.
A fun little detail: both Rebecca Ferguson and Annabelle Wallis belong to the same sorority. A sorority in the form of a popular television series and both serving as long interest for one of this generation’s most enigmatic and iconic characters, now of both television and cinema: Peaky Blinders and Cillian Murphy’s Tommy F$&#@ing Shelby. Wallis served as Murphy’s love interest for multiple seasons, while Ferguson plays his love interest in the recently released continuation movie.
Back on the subject of this film, there was an interesting flaw for me in this film. The AI judge appears to have omniscient access to data, yet requires the defendant to present basic evidence it should already have. This in sense speaks to the idea of artificial intelligence itself, I suppose. For me, artificial intelligence represents the idea of sentience, as it was depicted in the Westworld series. In the case of this film, it speaks to its limitations; it has all the information but can only act with human instruction. Which brings us back to my chosen quote for this review. Both can make mistakes, which was the subject of a last-minute pivot the film attempted to make, which wasn’t all that successful in my opinion. Don’t want to give too much away, but the crux of it is, immorality can corrupt any system.
Video
Mercy is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.20:1. The ultra-high-definition 2160p image is arrived at by an HEVC codec with an average bitrate of 65 mbps. The ultra high definition gives us a pretty good reproduction of this futuristic landscape that is still very much rooted in what we’d see today. Of course there’s a ton of translucent screens and the HDR elements give us a good feel of something akin to 3D where we can see the screens set against the backgrounds. The detail level is high particularly on facial close-ups. We get a lot of close looks of Pratt in the mercy chair and he’s sweating and making a lot of subtle facial expressions. Black levels are pretty solid but there’s not so much use of shadow definition here. Contrast kind of takes over that role and it looks a bit shiny and…digital.
Audio
The Dolby Atmos audio presentation defaults to 7.1. For an action film there’s also a lot of intimate dialog here and that’s because a good portion of the film plays against Pratt and the AI judge. That stuff is outstanding. When the film is outside and moving quickly the subs add an added dimension here that helps fill out the audio presentation. Surrounds can go from aggressive to nearly silent in a moment’s notice.
Special Features
There are no extras here.
Final Thoughts:
This wouldn’t have been a theater experience for me. I considered it when it was first released, but something held me back. I couldn’t nail it down in the moment, but now that I’ve seen it, and in the comforts of my own home, I know what it is. It was too familiar, and I felt like I’d seen it already. Even so, I did enjoy the experience, even if I was pretty sure, where the story was going to end up. However, for me, it was better to enjoy this experience at home.
Parts of this review were written by Gino Sassani
