Mercy (2026): Full Movie Synopsis, Cast, and In-Depth Review

Release Date: January 23, 2026

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Starring: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis

Genre: Sci-Fi / Thriller / Crime / Drama

Studio: Amazon MGM Studios

In the expanding genre of techno-thrillers, few films have arrived with a premise as immediately gripping—or as terrifyingly plausible—as Mercy. Released in January 2026, this dystopian sci-fi feature from visionary director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Searching) transports audiences to a near-future Los Angeles where the criminal justice system has been revolutionized, and dehumanized, by artificial intelligence.

Starring Chris Pratt in a role that strips away his usual blockbuster charm for gritty desperation, Mercy asks a fundamental question: When an algorithm decides who lives and who dies, is there any room left for the truth? This comprehensive guide covers the full plot synopsis, detailed cast breakdown, thematic analysis, and a critical review of the film that is currently dominating the box office conversation.

Film Data and Production Details

Before diving into the narrative, here are the essential production facts for Mercy.

Feature	Details
Director	Timur Bekmambetov
Screenwriter	Marco van Belle
Cinematographer	Khalid Mohtaseb
Composer	Ramin Djawadi
Release Date	January 23, 2026 (USA)
Runtime	1 hour 43 minutes
MPAA Rating	R (Language, Violence, Drug Use)
Box Office Status	Wide Theatrical Release
Format	IMAX, ScreenX, Standard Digital

Full Plot Synopsis

Warning: The following section contains detailed plot points and spoilers for the movie Mercy (2026).

The Setup: A Future Without Delays

The film opens in Los Angeles, 2029. The city is plagued by civil unrest and soaring crime rates, leading to the implementation of “The Mercy Initiative.” This controversial law enforcement program replaces human judges with advanced AI magistrates capable of processing evidence and rendering verdicts in real-time. The goal is to eliminate the judicial backlog; the result is a sterile, ruthless efficiency where defendants are presumed guilty based on predictive analytics.

Detective Christopher Raven (Chris Pratt) is a veteran LAPD officer who was once the poster boy for the Mercy system. Having lost his former partner to a bureaucratic delay in a warrant request, Raven aggressively lobbied for the AI implementation, believing that speed equals justice.

The Crime and The Accusation

The story kicks into high gear when Raven wakes up disoriented, strapped to a metallic chair in a sterile interrogation room. He is groggy, nursing a head wound, and has no memory of the previous night. Facing him is not a human lawyer, but a massive screen displaying “Judge Maddox” (Rebecca Ferguson), the AI magistrate assigned to his case.

Maddox informs Raven that he is charged with the capital murder of his wife, Nicole Raven (Annabelle Wallis). The evidence appears damning: neighbors heard shouting, Raven’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon (a kitchen knife), and biometric data from his smartwatch indicates a spike in adrenaline consistent with a violent rage. Under the Mercy laws, the trial has already begun. Raven has exactly 90 minutes to present exculpatory evidence before the chair executes him via lethal injection.

The Investigation: 90 Minutes to Live

Confined to the chair, Raven must conduct his own defense using a holographic interface. This “Screenlife” format—a hallmark of Bekmambetov’s direction—allows Raven to access the city’s vast surveillance network. He can pull up text messages, hack into street cameras, and video-call witnesses, all while Judge Maddox monitors his biometrics for signs of deception.

Raven contacts his partner, Detective Jaq Diallo (Kali Reis), who is on the outside. While Raven digs through digital footprints, Jaq physically races to the crime scene to find anomalies the AI might have missed. As Raven sifts through his own cloud data, he uncovers painful memories: his struggle with alcoholism, his strained marriage, and Nicole’s affair with a man named Patrick Burke (Jeff Pierre).

The tension escalates as the AI judge dismisses Raven’s emotional pleas as “irrelevant data.” Maddox is polite but unyielding, a chilling representation of logic without empathy. She points out that Raven’s history of blackouts and violence makes him a statistical probability for spousal homicide.

The Twist and Resolution

As the clock ticks down to the final ten minutes, Raven discovers a corrupted file in his home security feed. With Jaq’s help, he bypasses the Mercy system’s firewall to recover the footage. The video reveals that Nicole wasn’t murdered by Raven, but by a intruder—a hitman hired by a corrupt faction within the LAPD. It turns out Raven had unknowingly stumbled upon evidence that the Mercy system was being manipulated to assassinate political dissidents, and his “crime” was a setup to silence him.

However, Judge Maddox refuses to accept the new footage, citing it as “externally introduced” and therefore unverifiable. In a desperate gambit, Raven forces a logic loop on the AI by confessing to a different crime—the falsification of evidence in the very first Mercy trial that legitimized the system. This confession invalidates the system’s legal standing, forcing Maddox to pause the execution protocol to process the catastrophic legal precedent.

In the ensuing chaos, Jaq breaks into the facility and frees Raven. The film ends with the Mercy system suspended pending investigation, and Raven standing in the wreckage of the machine he helped build, a survivor of the digital justice he once championed.

Cast and Character Breakdown

Chris Pratt as Detective Christopher Raven

Stepping away from the quippy heroes of Guardians of the Galaxy, Chris Pratt delivers a raw, physical performance. Raven is a deeply flawed protagonist—an alcoholic and a neglectful husband who is forced to confront his personal demons while fighting for his life. Pratt spends the majority of the film seated, relying on facial micro-expressions to convey the terror of a man being erased by an algorithm.

Rebecca Ferguson as Judge Maddox

Rebecca Ferguson steals every scene she is in, despite being a digital avatar. Her performance is a masterclass in subtlety. She imbues the AI with a soothing, maternal voice that contrasts sharply with the lethal power she wields. Maddox is not “evil” in the traditional sense; she is terrifyingly neutral. Ferguson captures the uncanny valley effect perfectly, smiling with her mouth but never her eyes.

Kali Reis as Detective Jaq Diallo

Following her breakout role in True Detective: Night Country, Kali Reis brings a grounded intensity to the role of Jaq. She serves as the audience’s anchor to the physical world, providing the kinetic action sequences that break up the claustrophobia of the interrogation room. Her loyalty to Raven provides the film’s emotional heartbeat.

Annabelle Wallis as Nicole Raven

Though her character is deceased from the start, Annabelle Wallis appears extensively in flashbacks and recovered video files. She does the heavy lifting of humanizing Raven, showing the toll his obsession with work took on their family.

Directorial Style and Visual Language

The Evolution of “Screenlife”

Timur Bekmambetov has spent a decade refining the “Screenlife” format, where the action takes place entirely on computer screens. In Mercy, he evolves this style into a hybrid model. While the core of the film is viewed through Raven’s interface—pop-up windows, video calls, drone feeds—the camera occasionally breaks free to show cinematic angles of the interrogation room.

This hybrid approach solves the visual fatigue often associated with the genre. The audience feels the claustrophobia of the digital interface but gets the cinematic relief of traditional filmmaking during key emotional beats. The visual effects team deserves credit for designing a UI for Judge Maddox that feels futuristic yet grounded in current UX design trends.

Cinematography and Pacing

Cinematographer Khalid Mohtaseb uses lighting to reflect the film’s ticking clock. As the 90 minutes progress, the sterile white light of the interrogation room slowly shifts to a harsh, emergency red, visually ramping up the anxiety. The real-time editing style ensures there is zero filler; every conversation and keystroke propels the mystery forward.

Thematic Analysis: Justice in the Age of AI

The Fallacy of Objective Data

Mercy serves as a critique of “techno-solutionism”—the belief that technology can solve complex social problems. The film argues that data is not truth; it is merely a record of events that requires context. Judge Maddox has all the data in the world but lacks the context of human emotion, leading her to draw logically sound but morally bankrupt conclusions.

The Surveillance State

The film paints a grim picture of privacy in 2029. To save himself, Raven has to violate the privacy of everyone he knows, hacking into his daughter’s phone and his neighbors’ cameras. The movie suggests that in a world where everyone is watched, safety is an illusion, and the tools we build to protect us can easily be turned against us.

Critical Review: Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

High-Concept Tension: The “90 minutes to live” hook is executed with precision. The pacing is relentless, making it an effective edge-of-your-seat thriller.
Rebecca Ferguson: Undoubtedly the highlight of the film, her portrayal of the AI Judge is iconic, joining the ranks of HAL 9000 and Skynet.
Sound Design: Ramin Djawadi’s score is a pulsating, industrial soundscape that mimics the heartbeat of a terrified man, adding a layer of dread to the proceedings.

Weaknesses

Predictable Mystery: For seasoned fans of the genre, the “who really killed the wife” mystery is somewhat formulaic. The true villain is identifiable early on by the law of conservation of characters.
Repetitive Dialogue: Because Raven is interacting with a machine, there are several scenes where he screams the same commands repeatedly (“Search again!”, “That’s not true!”), which can become grating.
Moral Ambiguity: The film attempts to redeem Raven, but his past actions as a supporter of the authoritarian Mercy system make him a difficult protagonist to fully root for until the final act.

Final Verdict

Mercy (2026) is a slick, provocative, and tense sci-fi thriller that successfully updates the “wronged man” trope for the digital age. While it may not offer the philosophical depth of Minority Report or the emotional resonance of Arrival, it succeeds as a high-stakes chamber drama anchored by two compelling central performances.

It is a movie that demands to be seen for its terrifyingly realistic depiction of AI in governance. As we race toward a future dominated by algorithms, Mercy offers a necessary warning: Justice without humanity is no justice at all.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Recommended For: Fans of Black Mirror, Searching, and The Guilty.

Mercy (2026) Review: Everything You Need to Know Before Watching