That\u2019s all I could think about while watching \u201cMercy,\u201d the new sci-fi thriller starring Chris Pratt, as my worries around the future of justice in America played out onscreen.<\/p>\n
Set in 2029, the film centers on an intense trial in which Los Angeles detective Chris Raven (Pratt) is accused of killing his estranged wife (Annabelle Wallis). With just 90 minutes to clear his name, Raven must defend himself before an AI-run court system he once hailed as \u201cthe future of criminal justice\u201d (so the movie\u2019s tagline purports) \u2014 only now it\u2019s playing judge, jury and executioner with his life.<\/p>\n
The majority of the movie is spent with a hungover Raven strapped to a chair, conducting his own remote murder investigation before a poker-faced AI judge (played by Rebecca Ferguson). As the prime suspect, he\u2019s offered an arsenal of resources \u2014 including doorbell and body cams, social media accounts, public surveillance cameras, a phone line capable of reaching any person he requests to speak with and more digital tools that are alarmingly too accessible \u2014 to argue his case and prove, beyond the 92% threshold of reasonable doubt, that he didn\u2019t commit the crime.<\/p>\n
If not, he\u2019s to be automatically executed in a court of law (because, in this film, that\u2019s a totally legal precedent).<\/p>\n
The film unfolds through a series of twists and turns, culminating in a reveal that Raven\u2019s AA sponsor \u2014 and his wife\u2019s co-worker \u2014 Rob (Chris Sullivan) orchestrated her murder as an act of revenge against the detective. As the film hints early on, Rob\u2019s brother was the first defendant Raven brought before the AI court, and he was executed for a crime he didn\u2019t commit. The truth goes even deeper from there \u2014 as it turns out, Raven\u2019s partner, Jaq (Kali Reis), suppressed the evidence that would have cleared him.<\/p>\n
Another classic case of human corruption. However, \u201cMercy\u201d shows the lengths some individuals will go to in order to legitimize an AI-driven justice system that presumes guilt first and strips away due process.<\/p>\n
![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/697d328b1b0000574b6fe702.jpg\")
Chris Pratt as Detective Chris Raven in “Mercy.”<\/p>\n
\u201cMercy\u201d marks another screenlife entry from filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, the same producer behind genre titles like \u201cUnfriended,\u201d \u201cSearching,\u201d \u201cProfile,\u201d \u201cMissing\u201d and last year\u2019s \u201cWar of the Worlds.\u201d This latest film, however, pushes the format a bit further, using its highly technical framework to depict a chilling vision of constant citizen surveillance and the erosion of digital privacy.<\/p>\n
Whether that was the movie\u2019s intentions or not, it raises valid anxieties around AI being used within already-flawed systems of power, particularly as it relates to overpolicing. Those concerns resonate strongly today, especially as Trump\u2019s authorization of federal troop deployments continues to affect American cities<\/a>.<\/p>\n Take, for instance, the opening sequence of \u201cMercy,\u201d which shows law enforcement storming the streets of L.A., claiming that mass unemployment and homelessness drove the city into a \u201ccrime epidemic.\u201d According to the film, red zones designed to restrict individuals suspected of violent activities failed, prompting more \u201cextreme measures,\u201d i.e., the creation of the Mercy Court.<\/p>\n The idea is that a high-tech court would reduce the need for lengthy trials by delegating all authority to an AI judge, which, in their view, makes sense for public safety.<\/p>\n What the film\u2019s viewpoint overlooks, though, is that placing too much faith in any one institution, especially one tasked with delivering so-called justice, inevitably leaves room for error. An AI system, for instance, can\u2019t account for a corrupt officer suppressing evidence that might prove someone\u2019s innocence, paving the way for wrongful convictions. This kind of misconduct has long fallen hardest on communities of color, especially Black communities \u2014 just look at cases like the Exonerated Five<\/a> or the Harlem<\/a> Park<\/a> Three<\/a>. Handing even more authority to algorithmic decision-makers only raises the question of how much greater that harm could become.<\/p>\n That query lingered with me throughout \u201cMercy.\u201d If the film\u2019s cop protagonist \u2014 now framed as a \u201cvictim\u201d of the very system he once championed \u2014 can find himself trapped in a labyrinth where AI determines his fate, what protection could everyday civilians (some of whom are already unjustly targeted and discriminated against) possibly expect?<\/p>\n In an interview with Cinema Scholars<\/a>, director Bekmambetov suggested AI is something one could train to understand them and, by extension, anticipate one\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the more you work with a partner, the more and more that partner understands you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t imply AI can achieve perfect comprehension, though. And that limitation is precisely what makes its involvement in criminal justice affairs so worrisome. Hence, it seems up to humans to remain vigilant, question the decisions of artificial intelligence and ensure that moral judgment isn\u2019t abused by technology in criminal justice affairs.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that people do question AI, and humans\u2019 relationship to AI,\u201d Ferguson noted in the film\u2019s production notes. \u201cArtificial Intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it should always be just that \u2014 a tool to aid humans, not an alternative to humans. This film highlights, in a narrative sense, some of the ways that relying on AI could go very wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Though a work of fiction, \u201cMercy\u201d offers an onscreen vision that feels all too plausible. While the film suggests that an inevitable AI takeover should encourage us to consider responsible uses for the technology, I\u2019d argue there\u2019s no morally defensible way for algorithms to make decisions about human lives and conditions.<\/p>\n With films like \u201cMercy,\u201d the takeaway shouldn\u2019t be total optimism about AI\u2019s future capabilities, but a cautionary reminder of the dangers of handing technology too much control over already flawed aspects of our lives.<\/p>\n It\u2019s bad enough that we\u2019re still grappling with defects in our current justice system \u2014 one that, these days, seems quicker to target journalists doing their jobs<\/a> than to hold federal agents accountable for gunning down citizens in the streets<\/a>.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t need AI to fast-track more corruption.<\/p>\n \u201cMercy\u201d is now playing in theaters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warning: This post contains spoilers for \u201cMercy.\u201d Hollywood has always had a penchant for taking the phrase \u201cart…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,14362,206,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-443253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-chris-pratt","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}