Ninety minutes to save your life. Just ninety (90) minutes. And you’re tied to a chair the whole time. Tell me, if time expires on your little game show, does it double as an electric chair? This is the world of Mercy, a dystopian justice system so out there even fascists will be crying for due process … for 90 minutes, at least.
The year in 2029. Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) is a police detective, but he wakes up from a severe hangover in the hot seat. His estranged wife is dead, he’s the #1 suspect, and the Mercy system has taken over judicial proceedings in Los Angeles. Don’t know what the Mercy system is? Well get ready for this – Mercy is, literally, judge, jury, and executioner. It has, by itself, reduced crime by 68% in Los Angeles. How does it work? In the case of detective Raven, it’s like this: the powers that be strap him to a chair and then Mercy -using the face of a dead Rebecca Feguson– puts him on trial, then and there. Mercy, an AI application with access to every piece of information and camera feed known to man, sets the likelihood that Chris murdered wife at 97.5%. Chris has exactly 90 minutes to get that figure under 92% or it’s execution time.
Chris has no access to a lawyer and waking up from a hangover won’t buy him any time. Neither will being angry, nor upset. And he is both. I was still kinda hoping that he’d be more upset at the death of his wife and less argumentative about the process. One of the relevant background pieces of information here is that Chris helped build the Mercy system. Well, ain’t that a bitch, huh? And as Chris fails miserably to defend himself in Act I, one might get the impression that the system is rigged towards punishment … which it is. [Under Mercy, all defendants are presumed guilty.] One might also ask, “This guy is a trained veteran detective who knows Mercy inside and out and he can’t seem to beat the rap … how fair is this for the rest of us.”
The fun in this film comes from solving the puzzle. We know Chris Raven didn’t kill his wife. (For the love of Luis Guzmán, it’s Chris Pratt!) But who did? And how did they fool AI? Detective Raven is the last person to see his wife alive. They argued. In her house. He was angry and violent. Raven’s DNA and fingerprints are all over the kitchen and on the murder weapon and the first one to see the body is the daughter who comes home just minutes after Chris Raven leaves. This is all on video.
And we’re back to the 90-minute window, which is an impossibly short time to present a defense, even with all the access to all the information.
Do criminal lawyers and DAs not exist in the LA of the future? Maybe not.
Mercy owes a great deal to a better film, Minority Report, which has the same feel of: “This is injustice. No matter how many crimes you solve, this is still injustice.” I’m not pleased with the message that Los Angeles is in such disrepair that it would turn to Mercy by 2029 to help alleviate 
crime. [You know what really alleviates crime? Optimism. That’s never going to happen when a government is all about the hate.] I know this delve into RW crime fantasy solutions only exists to make a point about AI and the idea that AI is fallible. To be certain, AI is fallible, and yet the wrong message is being sent here; the biggest flaw with AI is that no matter what it knows, it is still subject to the biases of the people who built it. Grok can have access to the entirety of human knowledge and experience. Grok can also have a lock on every camera and computer terminal on Earth, and yet, when pushed by Elon Musk, it’s all, “I am MechaHitler.” That’s on you, Elon.
The film was entertaining if clumsy and very ham-handed with the message. And I think we all knew that was going to be the case when the clock was set at 90:00 for the guy just waking up lawyerless from the drunk tank. However, at this point, I’ll take anything the makes us wary of AI; it is a great tool, and has been built by some greater tools. As for the mechanics of the film, a time limit to execution sure adds some excitement, huh? But it also takes some away. You have 90 minutes to find a killer, neither you nor the screenplay allows you to mess around a whole lot. It does anyway … but whatchagonnado? Future justice sucks, too.
There once was a detective named Chris
Whose reality was far removed from bliss
Got worse for him still
When blamed for a kill
Now? Ninety minutes until fate’s sealed with a kiss
Rated PG-13, 100 Minutes
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Writer: Marco van Belle
Genre: Our screwed future
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who believe in 90-minute murder trials
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Elon Musk
