4K UHD Review: MERCY

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Apr 11 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

In the near future, Los Angeles has a crime epidemic, and many cops are being killed in the line of duty. So, for the past 2 years, the county has implemented a new high tech Mercy court to deal with violent criminal offenders. It is a fully autonomous courtroom where suspects are presumed guilty unless proven innocent. The AI judge presiding over each case serves as judge, jury and executioner, which prevents the need for lengthy and expensive trials. So far 18 people have been judged and executed by the Mercy court within hours of their crimes being committed, and now case #19 is set to begin.

Detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) was one of the cops who originally helped established the Mercy program. However, he now wakes up to discover himself strapped to a chair, sitting in front of AI Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson), and is told that he is on trial for the murder of his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis). Chris is not only shocked to discover that his wife is dead, but also that he only has 90 minutes to prove his innocence before he is executed on the spot.

In this future, everyone’s lives and movements are documented and recorded. Everyone’s phone, email, etc. are connected to the municipal cloud, which becomes available to those on trial. So Chris has access to his life’s entire digital footprint, the case evidence, crime scene photos and footage, and CCTV camera footage in order to try to make his case. While his daughter, Britt (Kylie Rogers), doesn’t really want to talk to him, Chris is able to contact his partner, Detective Jacqueline ‘JAQ’ Diallo (Kali Reis), to help him with the investigation, and his AA sponsor, Rob Nelson (Chris Sullivan), as a character witness. He hopes that they can somehow help him shed light on what really happened to his wife.

Chris only has 90 minutes to reduce his probability of guilt below a certain threshold in order to achieve probably doubt. He tries to reason with the AI judge and get her to go with her gut, but the AI is programmed to only follow the facts. And as Chris rapidly searches for proof of his innocence, he ends up revealing details about himself and his past that may actually help solidify the case against him. He even starts to wonder if he could have actually been responsible for the murder. Can Chris unlock the truth in time to save himself, or will he become the latest victim of the “flawless” court system he helped to establish?!

Mercy is a tense real-time thriller that puts the audience in hot-seat with Detective Chris Raven as he desperately races against the clock to prove his innocence. The story has a bit of a Minority Report feel to it, but with a whole surveillance state style of technology at play. Chris remains locked in this chair in front of the judge, but the story plays out making use of a variety of video sources—CCTV, bodycam, drone and cell phone footage, as well as video calls as Chris attempts to contact others for help. It’s all very fast-paced as the clock is constantly ticking. There are several surprise twists and turns along the way, taking the story in unexpected directions. Since this is done in real time, Chris’ partner Jaq needs a fast way to get around the city, and that’s thanks to the police department quadcopter—drone-like personal vehicles that can fly across Los Angeles very quickly.

Along the way, we get some archive footage and learn more about Chris’ backstory and state of mind, and how the loss of his previous partner, Ray Vale (Kenneth Choi) led to his drinking problem. We also see this unique relationship start to form between the AI judge and Chris. They start off a bit adversarial. Judge Maddox is impartial and doesn’t have emotions. She doesn’t care which way the verdict falls. She is very by-the-books and just follows the facts and evidence. She doesn’t necessarily agree with Chris’ go-with-your-gut investigatory style. However, as the investigation plays out, she starts to see some of the merits of his approach, and you get the sense that maybe she actually is rooting for his success, and the two become almost like partners helping one another look for the truth.

I originally watched the film in 3D IMAX in the theater, and was quite captivated throughout. Alliance Home Entertainment/Amazon MGM Studios has released Mercy on 4K UHD/Blu-ray, DVD and Digital. While there’s no 3D home release, I don’t think that necessarily added much to the film. The move is comprised of footage from all kinds of video sources, some with purposeful and stylized pixilation and defects that weren’t necessarily conducive to 3D. We were sent the 4K UHD release for review, and I found the presentation to look quite impressive. This is not a constantly crisp and clean looking film due to the nature and style of the video sources, but the presentation of this flawed footage looks wonderful, with a solid level of detail throughout, and bright beautiful colors. All of the overlays and recreations blend in seamlessly with everything else that’s going on. The Dolby Atmos audio is also quite immersive, filling the room with the chaos of what’s going on not only in the footage Chris and the AI are watching, but also with the sounds of Chris interacting with all of this footage and evidence.

The 4K release includes just a single barebones 4K disc, which does not contain any bonus material. The disc is packed in a standard 4K keepcase along with a carboard slipcover, but no digital copy code is included.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:39:33)

2160p / Widescreen 2.20:1
Dolby Vision / HDR10
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English Descriptive Audio, French (Canadian) 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, German 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French (Canadian), French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Spanish

Extras:

There is no bonus material included.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

Mercy is a tense real-time thriller that feels a lot like Minority Report, where this high tech futuristic law enforcement is supposedly flawless but appears to be going after an innocent man, who is in a desperate race to prove his innocence. Chris Pratt delivers a strong performance, giving us a well-defined character while primarily just sitting in a chair. Though Rebecca Ferguson was the big standout to me as the AI judge, acting like an emotionless computer program but also giving the sense of the slightest undertone of emotion. The 4K release looks and sounds great, but the disc is barebones, not including any bonus material or even a digital copy. That said, the film is definitely worth checking out. The film is also currently streaming as part of Amazon Prime/MGM+.