In the past years, AI has taken on an unsettling number of new roles, from virtual boyfriends to educational tutors. But what if it became judge, jury, and executioner?
That’s the premise of the upcoming film Mercy, starring Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson.
Pratt plays Chris Raven, a detective who helped champion a new, AI-powered justice system: the Mercy Capital Court. Under Mercy, defendants sit before an AI judge and must plead their case until their guilt falls below a certain threshold.
Since Detective Raven was a staunch supporter of the creation of the Mercy program, he’s stunned when he winds up facing AI judge Maddox (Ferguson) on charges of murdering his wife. Faced with almost certain execution, Detective Raven has 90 minutes to prove his innocence. From the Mercy Capital Court, he has access to all the video feeds, security footage, and documents he may need to discover the truth about what happened to his wife. Unfortunately, he accesses all of these helpful elements virtually from his chair in the Mercy court, and the effect is not unlike Ice Cube’s predicament in 2025’s widely panned War of the Worlds.
To watch Pratt and Ferguson square off in an AI-fueled showdown, check out the full trailer for Mercy above.
Mercy also stars Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, and Kylie Rogers.
Mercy hits theaters Jan. 23, 2026.
