It’s a bold filmmaking choice to have a countdown clock on the screen for most of your movie.
In the best-case scenario for a movie like Mercy, in which a Los Angeles detective has to prove his innocence to an artificial intelligence judge within said time limit, it heightens the tension. Who hasn’t gotten sweaty palms in, say, a Mission: Impossible movie when the bomb is ticking down and Tom Cruise still hasn’t cleared the building? Why not just extend it for the duration?
Perhaps in a better movie it might have worked. Sadly in Mercy, in theaters Thursday, it’s an ever-present reminder of just how much longer you must endure until you too are free of Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson and that chair.
In Mercy’s near-future Los Angeles, AI has been adopted by law enforcement and the judicial system to more efficiently clean up the city’s crime and blight problem. It’s a potent and not too far-flung idea that might have been a fascinating and provocative premise for a movie attempting to grapple with the implications of so-called progress that had the potential to be a worthy companion to another Cruise movie, Minority Report. But that would have required a more serious script than screenwriter Marco van Belle’s and more vision than filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov managed to muster.
