“Mercy” is a visually stunning film. The story has plenty of action scenes. Visual effects and Screenlife technology create a believable, futuristic world. Where the film falls down is its attempts to discuss whether or not Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be used to judge humans.

The story is set in 2029 Los Angeles. All technology is required to be uploaded into the L.A. Municipal Cloud. In addition, four “red zones” have been established in the city where undesirables are placed.

After Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt)’s partner is killed in the line of duty, the perpetrator is acquitted at trial. Sick of seeing this happen, the City established the Mercy Court. So far, eighteen people have been tried and executed by the new tribunal.

Leading Mercy Court is Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson), an AI creation. Defendants are given 90 minutes to prove their innocence. They are strapped into a chair with one hand able to access a touchpad for them to ask for and manipulate potential evidence. If they fail to prove their innocence, a lethal sonic pulse is delivered to the head.

After advocating for the Mercy Court’s creation, imagine Chris’ surprise when he wakes up strapped into the chair. He is accused of killing his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis) that morning.

Chris also is coming down from being legally intoxicated. The first evidence which Maddox shows to Chris has him not showing up to work. He then sees a door camera recording his angry attempt to get into the house. When he enters, an argument is heard between the couple. Chris leaves to go to a bar and get drunk. Later his daughter Britt (Kylie Rogers) comes home and finds her mother with a fatal wound. No other person is seen entering the home. In addition, Nicole’s blood is on Raven’s clothing.

After dealing with the shock of the accusations, Chris tries to contact his daughter who is at Nicole’s parents’ house. After that conversation, Chris looks at Britt’s social media accounts, only to discover that she lied to her parents and has two accounts.

Chris has his partner Jacqueline “JAQ” Diallo (Kali Reis) go through the crime scene with him. Nothing definitive is found, other than a broken vase, which Chris confesses much later to breaking.

He also speaks to his AA sponsor Rob Nelson (Chris Sullivan), and so it is revealed that Chris started drinking after the death of his partner. He later became sober through AA but then relapsed. This led to angry confrontations with his wife. Chris admits he has a temper.

His wife worked at a trucking company that shipped chemicals. So he checks out footage from various feeds of a barbeque held at his house the preceding weekend.

Chris also checks out his wife’s phone records to identify who she talked to recently. He has these divided into friends and work colleagues. Then there is one strange number that he focuses on. Who was his wife involved with and to what purpose?

One of the aspects that I liked about “Mercy” is that it has a run time of 100 minutes and the countdown, always ongoing, for Chris Raven’s character is 90 minutes. This lent an immediacy and urgency to the movie that otherwise would not have been there.

The use of the idea of the “municipal cloud” also allowed the timeline to keep flowing when the past was being displayed. Not really flashbacks, these downloaded visual images become a virtual recreation that actually are more accurate than human memory.

Another startling image occurs when Chris starts watching a video of the barbecue and the filmmakers seamlessly insert him into the action like he truly is an observer. Done quite subtly as a viewer you almost don’t notice what is going on. This technique plays out throughout the picture.

Then there are the amazing sequences where Chris is surrounded by multiple screens of information. I found out from the production notes that this is known as Screenlife, a process used by the director Timur Bekmambetov, in other films he has either directed or produced. These include the great “Searching” (2018) and “Profile” (2021).

The effect is completely immersive. I saw a recommendation to see this film in 3D or IMAX. I did not get this privilege but I can only imagine how stunning it would be.

The action scenes warrant a mention. I liked the use of futuristic technology such as the personal aircraft flown by JAQ in the line of duty. Seeing much of this virtually was intriguing. The pace of these segments is intense, which reminded me of Bekmambetov’s 2008 film “Wanted.”

Where the movie falls down is in its attempt to address the issue of whether or not AI should be judging humans. I won’t give a spoiler, but I didn’t like the overly simplistic conclusion Chris reaches with Maddox at the end about the role of AI in human affairs.

Maddox is supposed to be impartial. But there are times when she clearly displays human emotion, such as testiness. Later when there are power issues she starts babbling repetitive nonsense. And this is a impartial AI judge?

At one point she asks Chris “What is a hunch?” Doesn’t she have a dictionary implanted in her? Tiny items like this irritated me. Also, as an AI, Maddox could be using her skills to assist Chris in proving his innocence instead of having already concluded that he is likely to have committed a crime.

Then there are several scenes where Chris talks about humans and their foibles. Humans are messy. Sometimes he is extemporizing and other times he is trying to convince an AI of its lack of comprehension of human life. These got old fast and I couldn’t wait to get back to evidence procurement or a police raid on a suspect’s house.

But even though it falters in dealing with the issue of whether or not AI should judge humans, this is a must-see film just for the visuals. You also get the added bonus of some superb action scenes.

Four out of 5 stars

In the near future, a detective (Chris Pratt) stands on trial accused of murdering his wife. He has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the advanced A.I. Judge (Rebecca Ferguson) he once championed, before it determines his fate.

Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, Kylie Rogers
Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov
Written by: Marco van Belle
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Suspense, Drama
Rated: PG-13 for violence, bloody images, some strong language, drug content and teen smoking