Mercy

Mercy Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabella Wallis, Chris Sullivan.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

What’s Good: This film is pretty much a failure on all levels, especially as there are a couple of moments where you can see the potential, but it is squandered.

What’s Bad: The writing feels off; it never manages to feel serious enough to match the film’s tone, and this hurts the rest of the picture on all levels.

Loo Break: You can go and have a rest at any time, and it won’t make a difference, don’t worry.

Watch or Not?: This is a huge pass; there are better films out there to watch and enjoy.

Language: English (with subtitles).

Available On: Theaters

Runtime: 100 Minutes

User Rating:

Opening:

Every once in a while there comes a film project that includes a number of big name, talented actors, that for some reason feels like it shouldn’t have that kind of talent attached, and in 2026 one of those projects is Mercy, a film that feels should be part of the Netflix treadmill, or worse, and fails to do anything well, especially because it is supported by a terrible script, and a director that didn’t know how to save it from itself.

Mercy Movie Review: Script Analysis

The writing might the worst thing about the film, and as we understand it, the writing is one of the most important elements of any film, and sadly, screenwriter Marco van Belle, might have bite more than he can chew, by tackling a subject that he doesn’t fully understand that has also been worked by other films before in a more intelligent and compelling manner, while here in Mercy, it all feels quite underbaked.

The film deals with AI as its main subject, and the conflict of the films couldn’t be more in your face even if it tried, as it is basically the same conflict we see in social media between AI users and those who feel disgusted by it, this is a very nuanced and complicated subject but film, for some reason, thinks most members of the audience won’t be able to keep up with the film, which leads to over explaining, and as result a feeling of annoyance at how the film tries to present its mysteries.

The film has the same tone and understanding of its subject as Steven Knight’ Serenity, a film that also feels quite dumb but ends up having top talent leading it, it is strange, especially because Mercy does have a couple of moments where you can see the potential of the story, and it can make you frustrated as you see the film avoiding the most clever implementation of the ideas and choosing to be dumb just because.

Towards the end of the film, you can feel that consistency starts to appear but by that point it is too later, and no one will truly care about what is happening, and at best it will make the film be one of those that can be entertaining if you just turn your brain off, but for those who might expect a good mystery, and that the filmmakers give a bit of trust to the audience, they might be disappointed.

Mercy Movie Review: Star Performance

Mercy has the luck of having Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson as its leads, and these two are definitely are worth their money, they bring a level of presence and respect to the entire thing, even when the material doesn’t match their talents, and while they cannot really save the film at the end of the day, the film would definitely be even worse without them.

The rest of the cast functions in the same manner, proving that this might have been a project full of potential at some point, but the execution of the premise and the direction failed completely.