When a practicing Catholic such as myself sees a title like Mercy, it grabs attention.  It is a powerful word, something that God extends to all of us, particularly to those who seek Him.  As for the movie of the same name, I am not sure what it has to do with this word.  In this context, as we shall see, it is more ironic.  Then again, there is Chris Pratt to consider.  If you have the Hallow app, which is Catholic mobile software on steroids, you might know about his Christian faith.  Parenthetically, if you are not a part of the Catholic Church but interested, then it gets my recommendation.  I bring that up because he has been on it during seasons like Advent and Lent, both times of experiencing God’s mercy in a deeper way, despite not being a member of the Church.  That is fine, as is this movie.  I just wanted something a little more concretely tied to the title.

What is also not concrete is how Detective Christopher “Chris” Raven (Chris Pratt) ends up in the Mercy seat.  That sounds like a Christian phrase, but in this case it refers to a chair in which an accused criminal sits to be judged by an artificial intelligence (AI) magistrate called Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson).  During a prologue, we learn that in Los Angeles, crime had spiraled out of control to the point that the government decided to institute a law enforcement system powered by an AI overlord.  With the ability to access all security feeds and every citizen’s phone, lawlessness plummets and the outlaws that are left are confined to areas of the city called “red zones.”  When the accused end up in front of Judge Maddox, their guilt is all but assured.  They get an hour and a half to prove their innocence, using the system’s functions.  Nobody has been successful in doing so since the program’s inception.  The person who had been instrumental in making this a reality was Detective Raven and his partner, Jacqueline “Jaq” Diallo (Kali Reis).  Their first suspect, David Webb (Ross Gosla), had been from one of the red zones, and the fact that it ends in his conviction proves that it works.  Because he had been a champion for this process, Detective Raven is confused as to why he would be in this position.  It does not take long for him to be informed that he is being charged with the murder of his wife, Nicole Raven (Annabelle Wallis).  This, too, seems so fantastical to him, but Judge Maddox sets his guilt probability at 97.5 percent, which is nearly a statistical certainty.  As the evidence is examined, it looks like Detective Raven has killed his wife.  There is doorbell camera footage of him coming home the morning of the murder.  There is tension between the two, and he knocks the camera off its housing in a fit of rage.  There follows an argument, and not long thereafter he is arrested in a drunken stupor in a bar.  That drinking is something with which he has struggled, and it has put a great deal of pressure on their marriage.  In later footage, we see that it had been an addiction that he had gone to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings for, and had gotten sober with the help of his sponsor, Rob Nelson (Chris Sullivan), for a time.  Detective Raven had relapsed following the death of his former partner, Ray Vale (Kenneth Choi), which had happened while they were on patrol.  With the relapse came more arguing, which caused her to seek the attentions of another man, Patrick Burke (Jeff Pierre).  Once the trail leads to Patrick, he becomes the first alternative suspect Detective Raven puts forward for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to pursue.  However, when they finally get a hold of him, he is able to provide an alibi for the time of the murder.  Even still, Detective Diallo decides to book him for simply having a bad attitude.  All this results in Detective Raven’s guilt probability rising to ninety-eight percent, the highest it can go and with the clock still ticking.  He is ready to give up but Judge Maddox encourages him to use his time wisely.  Thus, he starts all over, looking at possible murderers among anyone connected to Nicole.  Because of the increasing alienation between husband and wife, Detective Raven must interview Patrick in order to learn more about Nicole.  She had been employed by Viking Shipping, the same company Rob works for, and she had complained to Patrick about things going on at work.  With that, Detective Raven narrows the list down to work associates.  A few days before the murder, the Ravens had hosted a barbecue that several of Nicole’s co-workers had attended.  In digging through her office documents and emails, a few of the likely candidates come to the fore.  The question is: how did they pull it off since the only one seen coming and going the morning of the crime was Detective Raven?  In reviewing a video his daughter, Britt Raven (Kylie Rogers), had taken of hearing noises in the house the night before, he notices their basement door open and the outline of a face visible in the crack.  In other words, somebody had stayed in the basement after the party.  In looking through Viking files further, it becomes evident that Rob had been siphoning off chemicals used in beauty products.  At first it is thought that it is for manufacturing illicit drugs, but it soon becomes clear it is for making a bomb.  One is detonated in Rob’s garage that almost kills Detective Diallo.  Judge Maddox reduces Detective Maddox’s guilt to zero, but in discovering a link between Rob and David, Detective Maddox opts to stay put to draw Rob to him.  Rob blames Mercy for David’s death and is seeking revenge with a truckload of explosives.  The problem, though, is that he has Britt as a hostage.  Once Rob has Britt in the building, Judge Maddox lets Detective Raven free to deal with the situation.  In this breathless denouement, we find out that Detective Diallo had framed David, but it does not change Rob’s complicity in murdering Nicole.

As all these final revelations come to light in Mercy, Judge Maddox is still residing over the proceedings.  In talking about her, what I am describing is a computer program that is designed to be infallible.  Throughout the proceedings, she matter-of-factly states that she can only present the facts.  Of course, we know that only God is truly infallible, and the film bears this out even if it does not do so by referencing the Almighty.  This process plays out in a way that might not seem interesting to a casual movie-goer.  For roughly ninety percent of the film, Detective Raven is seated across from Judge Maddox.  You can understand why this might be necessary for the AI because it is a computer program.  Though its electronic eyes and ears can go anywhere there is a signal, its digital manifestation is tied to the Mercy building.  This makes most of the rest of the footage of Detective Diallo and the others done in the manner of one holding a phone in front of themselves while on FaceTime.  This can be tricky because who is actually good at acting while they are holding a phone at arm’s length in front of their face?  There have been other films that have tried this same concept, and they have not all been well received.  That is the case with most critics with this one, but I think it works better here.  With other attempts, they seem to be trying a gimmick or are the result of budgetary constraints.  Here, there is more of an elevated purpose.  In addition to being tied to those problematic aspects, it does well to establish Judge Maddox’s god complex.  It can commandeer any system it chooses because it has the power of the law behind it.  Yet, the conclusion it comes to is that it is flawed because it is designed by humans, who are also flawed.

That same logic extends to those who made Mercy since they are also flawed humans.  This is one of the reasons why AI is a scary concept, and the film underscores this with the title program and Judge Maddox.  When it comes to AI, the Catholic Church maintains, as it does with all technology, that it must be in the service of humanity and life.  Put differently, we need to be the ones in charge, not the computers.  One gets a sense that it is the opposite in the movie, that it is Judge Maddox that is in charge.  How they get to that point in the movie has some frightening parallels to today.  Early on, in discussing the need for being tougher on rising crime rates, the following justification is used: “Extreme circumstances require extreme measures.”  That is the kind of thinking that has been the excuse of every authoritarian regime in history, and has been used by the current administration.  As in the movie, there can be no denying that there are problems.  With the way things are covered in our daily news cycle, the negative tends to get amplified.  However, no situation regardless of its severity gives one permission to violate the basic human rights of people.  It does not matter who they are, they deserve to be treated with dignity.  That is the Church’s position, and it explains Her beliefs on everything from abortion to the current tactics being employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  To that latter end, as we see with the film, there seems to be a presumption that someone is guilty until proven innocent.  That is not how our system, in reality or in this cinematic universe, is designed to operate.  Thankfully, we are capable of learning.  Where the film lands is that we all makes mistakes and can grow from them.  This is how God sees us, and how we are called to see one another.

Still, how we are made to see Mercy as a viewer is sometimes annoying.  As I noted above, a lot of it is two “people” (for lack of a better word) sitting across from one another, talking.  At the same time, there are some intriguing moments in it even if I was able to guess the real murderer pretty easily.  Despite this, this one gets a fair recommendation.