With about ten minutes left in the film Rebecca Ferguson says to Chris Pratt “Chris, what have we done?” A line I firmly believe is spoken breaking out of character. Because, I believe it is really Ferguson asking Pratt, how could they possibly let themselves be involved in this immature, sloppy  film. A film that will be in many film critics’ list as one of the worst film of 2026 and yeah, it is still January. The line is supposed to be A.I Judge Maddox of the MERCY court speaking to the accused, Det. Chris Raven (yep, that is his name in this) but what we have witnessed throughout the film of hokey, cliche stuffed action flick the line is remarking about how did they let themselves be involved in this film.  A tacky and dull that just sludges along.  It’s an awful film. 

An unoriginal story about an unregulated A.I court that sets a time limit for its proceedings for some reason not revealed  is already laughable, but throw in a cantankerous protagonist with no redeeming quality that is wrongfully accused of killing his wife in the mix of being put in the court and now you got a wreck that is a sad attempt at a Philip K. Dick story. The film also wants us to believe that alcoholism is a personality. Surprise, it is not.  Riddled with exposition, massive disregard to any production design or costuming and the tiniest attentiveness to character  development are all ingredients for this bomb. They tried their hardest to make Rebecca Ferguson attractive and I’m happy to report, they failed. You would think Mercy would be about Police-states, the dangers of trusting A.I. courts, civil rights violations, or even the dangers of an abusive alcoholic husband/father, instead it is all a giant world built story about a misguided revenge. 

Mercy is hugely an forgettable film. The constant scrolling of video footage is an unimaginable waste of film time. and Chris Pratt just strapped in a chair for 95% of the film is, yeah, boring.  It felt like we were also strapped to our chairs watching this.  Mercy is a juvenile film concept.  The big twist or reveal got huge laughs at the screening. Not the kind of reaction one wants for that. There was a great opportunity to have deep discussions of some serious topics but it was just window dressing for a crash-bang- shoot’em up revenge action film. And even that part of the film was boring too.  2.5/10