Chris Pratt stars in Mercy, a real-time LA sci-fi about an AI judge

Mercy is a real-time futurist thriller set in Los Angeles in 2029, directed by Timur Bekmambetov and written by Marco van Belle, starring Chris Pratt as an LAPD detective accused of murder and Rebecca Ferguson as an AI-hologram judge called Maddox. The review describes a world in which AI is wholly responsible for assessing criminal guilt or innocence and defendants have 90-minute trials before Judge Maddox.

Pratt’s character, Detective Chris Raven, is an officer with a drinking problem who brought in the first conviction under the city’s new hi-tech justice system, nicknamed in the piece as a form of “RoboJustice.” The film also features a cameo from Jay Jackson, effectively reprising his Perd Hapley newsreader role.

In the story Raven wakes hungover in the courtroom restraint chair to be told he is accused of murdering his wife, an event he does not remember. He must clear his name using the city’s cloud archive of bodycam and surveillance footage, phone records and calls to colleagues and family, performing what the review calls the police work of his career.

The review praises the script as ingenious and watchable with cheeky twists and Bekmambetov’s robust approach to action, while noting the final escalation into full-on action may verge on absurdity.

Key Topics

Culture, Mercy, Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Timur Bekmambetov, Los Angeles