Film Review – Mercy

While “Mercy” is being promoted as something of a thriller involving the world of A.I. and its all-consuming presence in human life, it’s more of a “screenlife” viewing experience, where most of the feature focuses on a character exploring computer screens and accessing cameras. Screenwriter Marco van Belle has a premise that could work, putting a man accused of murder inside an A.I.-driven courtroom to speed through his case in 90 minutes, giving him a chance to defend his innocence in front of a computer judge. The details of this futureworld (well, just 2029) should be enough to fill an entire film, but director Timur Bekmambetov (who’s been involved in a few screenlife endeavors, including 2021’s “Profile”) insists on making a junkier picture with “Mercy,” going the B-movie route as logic and patience are set aside for cheap thrills and pure ridiculousness at times, while the digital adventuring gets old in a hurry. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com