Mercy - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Mercy



Movie:
4K Video:
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Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
It comes as no surprise that with the advent of AI (which isn’t really true AI, but rather just a slightly more advanced algorithm that we’ve used for years. But hey, I guess it’s one step closer to truly intuitive artificial intelligence) and the concerns over its use would naturally present itself in film form. Films like AfrAId, M3gan, The Creator, and now Mercy are all taking a look at the newer technology and delving into the theoretically dangerous extremes that it could possibly lead to. But instead of a horror movie, Mercy delves more into the pitfalls that come from a lack of human intuition and gray areas that make up our lives, morphing into a futuristic police procedural instead of terror or lasers and fight scenes.

Directed by Timu Bekmambetov (most acclaimed for Wanted, Night Watch, and Day Watch), Mercy drops us right into the near future (2029 based upon several dates on video recordings in the film) where crime has gotten out of control, and the city of Los Angeles has implemented a brand new prosecution method for high profile crimes, dubbed “Mercy”. Mercy is basically an AI-controlled court, where an artificial judge, jury, and executioner presides over a defendant’s trial, presuming them to guilty unless they can prove in 90 minutes of their innocence. If it seems a bit like Minority Report, that’s because it kinda is. But instead of pre-cogs predicting crime, this is AI presiding over a person’s life with the presumption of innocence taken away.

We’re immediately introduced to LAPD detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), who wakes up locked in the Mercy chair with a band hangover and a blacked-out memory. There, he is informed that he is charged with taking the life of his wife, Nicole (Annabelle Wallis), that morning, and was then picked up drunk in a bar later that day. All evidence points to the fact that he was there minutes before the crime happened, and that he and his wife have had a long history of verbal altercations due to his drinking. Adamantly declaring himself innocent, he is given the same 90-minute time to figure out who did it as he gave to the people he put in the chair himself, presided over by the AI “Judge Maddox” (Rebecca Ferguson), who gives him all of the copious amounts of information at her disposal to allow him to defend himself.

I saw a myriad of reviews thrashing Mercy to death over the last few months. And while I fully admit that this is kind of a cheap knockoff of Minority Report with a hint of Demolition Man, I actually kind of like it. Mercy is not going to go down as a great film (or even a really good one), but I found it a perfectly fine police procedural with a slight sci-fi twist. Chris Pratt is as solid as he always is, while Rebecca Ferguson scene steals as she always does (seriously, she’s a female Ben Mendelssohn, being that she can’t seem to turn in a bad performance, even in bad films). The majority of the film is a futuristic whodunnit, with a twist near the end that left me rolling my eyes.

Nothing is too great, nor is it ever too egregious, either. The plot is predictable and easy to follow, with a couple of cool twists that keep it from being too easy to guess the ending. That being said, all sense of believability goes out the window when Judge Maddox seems to start to “go by her gut”, and starts altering things as it becomes obvious that Detective Raven is innocent. By the time Chris plugs himself back into the trial in order to catch the real killer, I was starting to roll my eyes, and by the time the “twist” happens in the last 10 minutes, I was understanding why this film got such poor reviews. BUUUUUT, when looking at the film as a whole, I find that the good generally outweighs the weak ending.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for violence, bloody images, some strong language, drug content, and teen smoking.




4K Video: Video:

Strangely, despite having a good digital shoot, with some nice cool blue colors (leaning towards green at some points in the flick), Mercy looks a tad flat and smoothed at times. It’s not that it looks bad, but that it simply just isn’t the jaw-dropper that I was expecting from the trailer. Everything is done competently, with good detail levels and strong blacks, but I found the entire production to just look a little video game-like. Maybe that was because everything was supposed to be shown to Chris Raven via holographic AI technology, or maybe it was due to the effects utilized. But whatever the reason, the image just has a teensy bit of fakeness to the entire production. The Dolby Vision color grading adds some nice pop to the black and blue police uniforms, as well as the darker bits, and white s really does pop (check out Raven’s shirt throughout the film). It’s not perfect, but this is a competently done production that looks good.









Audio:

Mercy may not be the hottest film on the planet, but its Dolby Atmos track is a doozy. The film gives the mix plenty of room to shine, with plenty of car chases, fiery explosions, and an atmospheric location with Chris Raven having a myriad of holographic instances to encompass the listening position. Dialogue is strong and clean as expected, and the surrounds (and overheads) get plenty of activity with the above-mentioned excitement. The film doesn’t have a TON of bass, but the opening scene and the explosions near the end certainly have the walls flexing when called upon.












Extras:

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Final Score: ​

Simply put, Mercy is a popcorn sci-fi/cop film that does well enough while never really excelling or failing at anything massively. I liked it, I have to admit. It is one of those films that you watch on a lazy Saturday afternoon with some popcorn and no expectations, and not something that you watch expecting Steven Spielberg-type quality. While I keep bringing up the fact that this isn’t A-grade entertainment, it’s certainly way better than DTV B films, either. It’s just one of those generic sci-fi films that work well enough, but isn’t exemplary. Alliance Entertainment’s 4K UHD disc looks and sounds great, but sadly is devoid of extras, and no Blu-ray to make this a combo pack. Fun enough watch will be my final recommendation.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, Kylie Rogers
Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov
Written by: Marco Van Belle
Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French DTS-HD MA 5.1, French (Canadian), Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Spanish
Studio: Alliance Entertainment
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 100 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: April 7th, 2026

Recommendation: Fun Enough Watch