By Lynn Venhaus

With a timely yet controversial AI issue to ponder in “Mercy,” this futuristic cyber thriller’s gimmick is that it uses intelligent tools in slick visual effects. Where it fumbles is in the overstuffed storytelling that is not nearly as smart as it wants to be.

This won’t be the only movie to take on the complex ethical issues of Artificial Intelligence, but director Timur Bekmambetov can’t overcome a contrived and convoluted script, so whatever statement he wanted to make isn’t impactful.

No dispute about human vs AI fallibility, but the logic goes off the rails as screenwriter Marco van Bello shifts from a murder mystery to a videogame Doomsday scare. Let’s pile up the highway crashes to enliven the inertia from watching the two main people sit in chairs for 90 minutes while they monitor screens.

The year is 2029, and L.A. is a cesspool of crime in this dystopian-adjacent future. The police and the judicial system have teamed up on a high-tech way to clean up the mean streets, the Mercy System. They’ve cut out lawyers and juries, all there is presiding is an impartial AI judge.

The sci-fi drama starts as a zippy barrage of multi-media evidence when Los Angeles detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) stands trial for the heinous murder of his estranged wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis).

They have been married 20 years, but his escalating drinking problem after his partner Ray (Kenneth Choi) is killed on duty has caused anger management issues. A cliché-riddled home life – miserable marriage, bratty daughter with a secret Instagram account – is meant to cast doubt on his innocence.

Once a champion of Mercy who worked on the court’s first AI murder conviction, Raven awakens from a drunken stupor and has no memory of his wife’s killing. As the facts are revealed, the case looks airtight with him as the primary suspect.

After all, there is an algorithm calculating the likelihood of his guilt as evidence is presented – 92.5 percent probability or higher is what administers a lethal injection and lower unlocks the clasps.  

Pratt is confined to a chair for most of the 101-minute film, and Rebecca Ferguson is only visible as a head screenshot as AI hologram Judge Maddox, so this is ‘screen’ acting, not engagement as a countdown clock ticks away in real time.

That gives the plot a sense of urgency, for a desperate Raven has only 90 minutes to determine his fate, because in this pilot program, you are guilty until proven innocent.

When he finally starts investigating the case, at his disposal is a cloud archive of bodycam footage, surveillance tapes, Ring cam, Face Time, phone records and website files. We see this unfold on a virtual reality screen.

Bekmambetov is a master at screenlife movies – the ones that use smartphones, computers and recording technology to tell a story, such as “Unfriended,” “Searching,” “Missing” and “Profile.” He makes the most of modern bells and whistles.

The court allows Raven to make calls to family and friends. His teenage daughter Britt (Kylie Rogers) tearfully talks, confused (she found her dead mom). His friend Rob Nelson (Chris Sullivan, Toby in “This Is Us”), who is Nicole’s co-worker and Chris’ AA sponsor, is helpful with names and background.

Kali Reis is Chris’ current partner Jaq, and she is reluctantly doing the leg work helping him find evidence. She has a space-age off-road vehicle that allows her to bypass LA traffic.

But this is no “Minority Report.” In the third act, van Bello was not content to wrap things up logically but added multiple ludicrous subplots for a maddening over-the-top finale. It’s one of those films that is ultimately forgettable after you leave the multiplex.

Pratt, so likeable as Peter Quill in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers films, and to an extent as Owen in “Jurassic World” (also preposterous), is badly in need of a hit after making some rote, soulless action films. What about an ensemble comedy, like his breakthrough “Parks and Recreation?”

Ferguson, a superb actress who was the heart of “A House of Dynamite” last fall, is wasted as this efficient robot-like figure, but somehow is humanized after Pratt’s pleading with her.

Editors Dody Dorn, Austin Keeling and Lam T. Nguyen and the visual effects team do exemplary work, but after the techno-razzle-dazzle fades, what’s left? “Mercy” is an empty vessel, failing to make a sincere case for caution with AI because of its ridiculous crash-and-burn climax.

All that for “Human or AI – we all make mistakes.”

“Mercy” is a 2026 crime drama cyber thriller directed by Timur Bekmambetov and starring Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Chris Sullivan, Kylee Rogers and Annabelle Wallis. It is rated PG-13 for drug content, bloody images, some strong language, teen smoking and violence and its run time is 1 hour, 41 minutes. It opened in theatres Jan. 23. Lynn’s Grade: D