MERCY
- filmsinreview
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
by Victoria Alexander
MERCY stars Chris Pratt as a detective (Chris Raven) who has been accused of killing his wife. It’s 2029, and Chris wakes up locked in a chair after a brutal alcoholic blackout. He had destroyed a bar and fought with patrons and the police, who arrested him.
Chris finds himself in the Mercy Chair. The judge (Rebecca Ferguson) is an AI-created entity.
Once arrested and brought to the Mercy Chair, the accused — who is presumed guilty — has 90 minutes to prove his or her innocence by 92%.
If Chris cannot show his innocence, he will at once be terminated. So the wildly drunk Chris is shown his terrible behavior after the murder by all the AI-generated cameras.
Chris had strongly advocated for the Mercy system of “judge, jury, and executioner.” When Chris gains his senses from his blackout, he cannot understand where he is. He does not recognize the Mercy Chair or know he has 90 minutes to prove his innocence.
The Mercy Chair shows Chris all the private texts and recordings from his family, friends, and colleagues.
Even though there is a clock showing the time Chris has left, he wastes a lot of precious time screaming his innocence and begging to call his daughter. Obviously, Chris supported a new system of justice without actually knowing anything about it.
The judge has to walk Chris through the Mercy Chair procedure.
[According to the EconomicTimes.com, “Beijing has more than 30,000 surveillance cameras to curb ‘immoral’ and illegal activities, making the Chinese capital a highly monitored city. Images from the cameras were previously used to aid searches or to confirm evidence, police said. However, camera surveillance is now integrated with patrols to form a monitoring network that helps police proactively spot and fight crime, state-owned China News Service reported.”]
If Chris was the major advocate for the Mercy Chair, why is he shocked to wake up locked in the chair? Why doesn’t he know the protocols he spearheaded to the public? Didn’t he read the “98% guilty – 92% innocent” agenda?
What makes this a fascinating sci-fi movie is that we have accepted and welcomed being tracked by our environment, our Ring cameras, texts, emails, and posts. If you have an iPhone, you can become an “influencer” showing your daily life for “likes.”
We are vulnerable without any regard that all our information survives in a “cloud,” can be retrieved, and could be used against us.
I saw MERCY in 4D IMAX. 4D is back, and it has been improved with much better glasses. Pratt seems to have not used a GLP-1 drug and may be slipping back to his “Parks and Recreation” era.
We all know that our emails, texts, videos, and the ever-present public cameras are not private. We do not mind because it is good for us.
Staying inside, wearing a mask, standing 6 feet behind someone, and taking two free vaccines will be good for us. If it makes our life easy and we are told it is good for us, the COVID mania was a test showing that we will obey as long as we are told it is good for us.
Will the time come when our private use of AI technology will someday be used against us? This is the first thought of everyone leaving the theater.
This is a difficult role, since Pratt can only react to the presented facts while chained to the Mercy Chair. Pratt does a terrific job of showing disbelief and anger. What is also commendable is that the character of Chris Raven is not a nice guy. He is an alcoholic and has a mean streak. He is not a good husband and is a neglectful father.
MERCY is heir to 1984 and MINORITY REPORT.
“The ALL is Mind; The Universe is Mental.”
Rotten Tomatoes Certified Critic since 1998. For a complete list
of Victoria Alexander's movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes go to:
Principal Reviewer for FilmsInReview: filmsinreview.com
Member of Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Personal email: victoria.alexander.lv@gmail.com
“The Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey: The
Impact of UFOs and Their Occupants on Religion”
Author: Victoria Alexander
Sponsored by The Bigelow Foundation
Comments