The movie Mercy reminds me a lot of Alfread Hitchcock’s Rear Window. In both stories, the protagonist spends the majority of their screen time confined to a chair. In the 1954 movie, Jimmy Stewart is stuck in a wheelchair. In the 2026 movie, Chris Pratt is stuck in a what is known as the Mercy Chair. In the first movie, L.B. Jeffries witnesses what he thinks is a neighbor murdering his wife. In the second, Chris Raven is forced to watch footage of his own wife’s attack, and all eyes are on him!
Another similarity of these two films is that the audience has the same point of view as the heroes. Jeffries watches the happening of his neighborhood from his apartment’s rear window. He gets closeups by looking through his camera’s viewfinder. Raven faces a screen of a larger-than-life A.I. Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) who provides him footage from cameras used on doorbells, police uniforms, social media, public surveillance cameras and more. Image: Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window (TVDB)
Mercy takes place in 2029. (Not too far away people!) The world looks pretty much the same as it does today, only motorcycles can fly like hovercrafts. The story begins right away with Detective Raven waking up and strapped in the Mercy Chair unable to escape. Judge Maddox tells him that he is wanted for the murder of his wife. In this courtroom, he is given 90 minutes to prove that he is innocent, or he will be put to death instantly. And she knows what she speaks. She is literally tasked with being the judge, jury and executioner.
While he pleads his case, Raven is allowed to call a few people to help him solve this crime. These include his friend Rob Nelson (Chris Sullivan), his partner Det. Jacqueline Diallo (Kali Reis) and daughter Britt (Kylie Rogers); each give their perspectives and not all of them are glowing. The hope is that he can find some answers that will help to lower his probability of guilt from a staggering 96%.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, Mercy is part courtroom drama, part action-thriller. The story is told through a subgenre known as screenlife where the majority of the movie is told through computers, smartphones, TV and other screens.
Bekmambetov knows a little bit about such things. He is considered a pioneer of this filmmaking process directing such films as Unfriended and Searching. Sometimes this type of storytelling works. Other times, such as Rich Lee’s 2025 remake of War of the Worlds, it just doesn’t work for audiences. Bekmambetov also directed the Ben-Hur remake which many people didn’t like, but I did.
Despite its subject matter, Mercy is more interesting than it is thrilling. And that isn’t a bad thing. Like Rear Window, the movie moves with a slow burn until the near end when things really ramp up. And in both cases, the heroes need to find the solutions before they die. And did I mention that Raven’s 90-minute trial is told in real time?
This is a different type of role for the Guardians of the Galaxy star. The idea that a person’s fate can be decided at the whims of an A.I. computer program is chilling. And as for Raven, he’s absolutely freaks out. Ferguson is equally good as the level-headed computer program who is smiling one moment and turning serious the next. It’s a difficult job to act like a different entity and Ferguson pulls it off.
Sure, some events that happen in the film happen a little too conveniently and maybe there is a plot hole or two, but this movie is less about realism and more about a clever storyline. Just go with it, eat your popcorn and enjoy the movie.
Main Image: Amazon MGM Studios
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