Review: Chris Pratt plays a detective tried by an A.I. judge in Mercy

In a review for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis critiques Mercy, a Timur Bekmambetov film that stars Chris Pratt as Detective Chris Raven, a man accused of killing his wife who must confront an artificial‑intelligence court. Rebecca Ferguson plays the A.I. avatar Judge Maddox.

The movie is set in a near‑future 2029 Los Angeles where violent offenders are segregated and an A.I. system has supplanted the presumption of innocence: defendants allegedly have 90 minutes to clear themselves or are executed immediately, according to the review. Marco van Belle wrote the story; other cast members mentioned include Kali Reis as Detective Jaq Diallo, Annabelle Wallis as Raven’s dead wife Nicole and Kylie Rogers as their child, Britt. Dargis says the film leans on glossy action‑thriller clichés while using images of heavily armed law‑enforcement throngs as the story’s only real friction.

The reviewer describes Bekmambetov’s visual tactics—multiple screens, simulated immersions and a largely immobilized protagonist strapped to a chair—as attempts to enliven the material, but writes that the film’s larger questions about power, justice and surveillance fade away into what she calls a “witless, thrill‑free hodgepodge.” Mercy is rated PG‑13 for guns and murder‑scene blood, runs 1 hour 39 minutes and is in theaters, the review notes. Manohla Dargis is the Times’s chief film critic.

Key Topics

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