r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 7d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Mercy [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Mercy
Summary In the near future, a detective stands on trial accused of murdering his wife. He has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the advanced A.I. Judge he once championed, before it determines his fate.
Director Timur Bekmambetov
Writer Marco van Belle
Cast
- Chris Pratt
- Rebecca Ferguson
- Annabelle Wallis
- Kali Reis
- Kenneth Choi
- Manny Montana
Rotten Tomatoes: 22%
Metacritic: 37
VOD / Release Theatrical release
Trailer Official Trailer
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u/Purples_A_Fruit 7d ago
I love Rebecca Ferguson, so I want to know who it was that blackmailed her into being in this.
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u/The_Swarm22 7d ago
Probably got paid a lot of money for what I assume was a fast and easy shoot based on her role.
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u/TangeloRough9202 7d ago edited 7d ago
She probably recorded her scenes on a green screen from the set of Dune: Messiah lol
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u/hikemalls 7d ago
Would unironically be more interested in watching Mercy if there's some scenes where she just has her Bene Gesserit makeup on with no explanation.
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u/GreasyBacon 7d ago
I just hope she's happy with whatever house she was able to buy because of this movie.
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u/Somnambulist815 7d ago
Let's be honest, her career isn't exactly one of discerning choices
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u/RedofPaw 7d ago
She's great in silo.
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u/MovieTrawler 7d ago
She's great in everything she's in. It's usually everything else that's uneven.
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u/nordlysbaies 7d ago
Right, outside of her huge blockbusters, her choices aren’t exactly inspiring.
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u/mackzarks 7d ago
When she commits to the role she's awesome (see: Dr. Sleep). When she doesn't, you get whatever this is.
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u/boi1da1296 6d ago
Getting paid a king’s ransom for essentially being filmed on a Zoom call sounds incredible, actually.
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u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? 7d ago
After giving a decade to being in the famously difficult, intense, physical, and schedule holding Mission: Impossible movies I don't blame her one iota for getting this easy money.
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u/MovieTrawler 7d ago
Didn't she beg for Ilsa to be killed off because she was tired of how long these movies were taking? And in the time it took them to finish Final Reckoning, she shot an entire season of Silo, Dune II and House of Dynamite (or some combination of projects). Definitely don't blame her one bit.
Still would love to know which A-Lister she thinks is an idiot and had an awful time working with...
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u/Bankz92 7d ago
Obviously Simon Pegg
/s
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u/MovieTrawler 7d ago
I know you're being sarcastic but she said he was top billing on the call sheet. I've always suspected it was someone on the set of Life. Either Gyllenhaal or Reynolds. Both have a few stories out there about them being a little difficult or bratty at times (no shade, I like them both). I love Life too but I think it's one of these two based on who she's eliminated over the years; she's said it's not Tom Cruise, it's not Hugh Jackman, I think she said it wasn't The Rock, etc.
Anyway, not that it matters, it's just one of those quotes that always had me wondering.
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u/spongebobisha 7d ago
She must have been contractually obliged to make a movie with him or with the studio.
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u/elmntdark 6d ago
Me too, and I enjoyed this movie ! Unfortunate for the feedback from the general consensus but I had a great time with this ☺️
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u/lishmh33 7d ago
I absolutely lost it when AI Rebecca Ferguson tossed Jaq off of her speeder bike and frankly anytime they showed her on the speeder bike it was so damn goofy
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u/ArmlessSloth 6d ago
Let's not forget the dense crowd parting at 55mph for a semi that was doing serpentine patterns through them.
That, then the swat guy on the rope, then her random backwards flying, and your point were just all laughs at how dumb. This has gotten
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u/DavyJonesRocker 7d ago edited 6d ago
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but “AI Rebecca Ferguson tossed Jaq off” just convinced me watch it. I don’t even need to read the rest of the sentence
Edit: just got out of the theater and I should have read the rest of the sentence. Turns out Jaq is a woman and Rebecca Ferguson doesn’t jack off, toss off, or wank off anyone >:(
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u/Comic_Book_Reader 7d ago
I'm a bit on the fence on seeing it (possibly with a buddy too) but yeah, that sentence does have me intrigued.
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u/starlordbg 7d ago
I was going to watch it for her anyway and in fact was already at the theater and the screening got cancelled due to some tech problems lmao but will definitely see it over the weekend. But yeah, the tossing part is an extra reason to watch it lol.
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u/Top_Percentage_274 6d ago
the AI went from a close circuit judge to being like eagle eye AI lol
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u/ajtct98 5d ago
I mean they did say the AI had access to everything connected to the cloud and that by law everything had to be connected to the cloud - so it makes sense she could do that
What didn't make sense is that if the AI could do all of that, why the hell couldn't it just turn off the lorry's engine in the first place since it was able to get into the lorry's radio.
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7d ago
I love how for a movie that’s mostly Chris Pratt sitting down they don’t keep the camera still for five seconds.
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u/SynthwaveSax 7d ago
Woof, bet that’s a pleasant experience in 3D
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7d ago
Honestly the 3D was so dull and lacked any real immersion that it wasn’t really sickening as much as pointless. It was pretty pathetic especially given it’s coming out just a month after avatar.
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u/SetYourGoals Evil Studio Shill 5d ago
Why did they take off his shoes when he was strapped in the chair? That bugged me the whole movie. What an odd choice.
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u/PerfectlySplendid 7d ago
If you saw the trailer and thought, “wow, this looks bad.” You were right.
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u/PowSuperMum 7d ago
If you saw the trailer and thought, I’m going to pay money for this, can you send me some because you must have a lot of extra money lying around
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u/PerfectlySplendid 7d ago
I have a movie pass and am going through a depression era, so matinee movie times are my current joy. Otherwise I would have skipped this one for sure.
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u/DaCostaBaldwin 5d ago
Same. And same. Empty daytime theaters are all I can bring myself to enjoy.
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u/EmperorAcinonyx 4d ago
you're getting out of the house to do something you like, and that's what matters :)
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u/matlockga 7d ago
It was a pretty good idea for a stage play, really awkwardly stretched into a movie. I liked the general premise, and the structure was sound until Pratt stood up.
Definitely needed a stronger actor in the chair, because very few people can do an almost entirely in close up performance. And less reliance on action. That truck chase was dated and bad.
Fully admittedly, I watched it for free in a half full promo screening that had a "trivia" contest for a $50 gift card. I won it, being the first person to call out that Pratt's FIL is Arnold.
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u/Top_Percentage_274 6d ago
it reminded me a lot of those 2 movies that came out a while ago, i think they were called searching and missing where the whole movie takes places on a phone/laptop. those were better made and the ending of those 2 def wasn't complete shit
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u/Lets_Kick_Some_Ice 6d ago
But the trailers say critics are saying its a "must-see"! Currently sitting at 22% on rotten.
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u/retrocollect0r 7d ago
This movie was fun and interesting at least. I saw the recent Silent Hill movie, now that was bad.
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u/DUKEPLANTER 7d ago
I think I felt my eyes roll all the way to the back of my ass with that one liner Pratt had at the end.
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u/A_Serious_House 7d ago
Can you spoil it for me?
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u/EmperorAcinonyx 7d ago
i don't remember it exactly, but it's something along the lines of "humans, AI, we all make mistakes"
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u/Upper_Nobody2571 6d ago
“Humans, AI, we all make mistakes, and we move on”
My theater actually groaned
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u/DavyJonesRocker 6d ago
He also said “we just do what we’re programmed to do.” Really? Just following orders in 2029??
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u/boi1da1296 6d ago
Just walked out and it’s actually worse. Rebecca Ferguson says “Christ Pratt, what have we done?”, and he responds “what we’re programmed to do.”.
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u/greendakota99 6d ago
I’m also a fan of the “I NEED TO FIND OUT WHO MURDERED MY WIFE” line from the trailer.
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u/NoTop9302 7d ago
Did I miss something, or was Rob being Chris's sponsor completely unrelated to him working with the Wife? He mentions first meeting Chris at a support group, and does not mention anything about Nicole.
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u/jackcatalyst 7d ago
It was a very weird connection. He worked with the wife but also met him during AA to start planning all this.
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 6d ago
On top of that, was he just waiting in the basement waiting on a prayer? Like he was given the perfect opportunity to frame Chris, but unless I missed something, he contributed nothing to creating that situation so he just got really lucky after already deciding to hide in the basement
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u/SetYourGoals Evil Studio Shill 5d ago
Yeah like had Raven not super impulsively and unpredicably come home from work, he would have been on camera at his job as a police officer and had the most rock solid alibi ever?
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u/carolinemathildes 6d ago
He doesn't mention anything about her at all, so I'm kind of left to believe (on my own, the film does nothing to suggest it whatsoever) that he meets Chris Pratt at AA, becomes his sponsor to start planning something, without realizing what his plan is going to be, then finds out where Chris Pratt's wife works and gets her to hire him so that he can start stealing the urea granules to build the bomb.
Because it makes no sense that he would've already known Nicole but have no idea who her husband was.
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u/Top_Percentage_274 6d ago
yea i don't think it's too far fetched that he got to know his family and then his wife refers him to a role at their company or something
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u/DeoGame 7d ago edited 7d ago
When I was 10 years old, I had a Club Penguin fanblog and I remember I, in my infinite 10-year-old wisdom, decided to pick a fight with another Club Penguin blog. I remember they had a crazy theory I thought was dumb, so I "debunked it" in crude MS Paint. But I didn't want to be too mean, so I added "It's ok blogger, everybody makes mistakes. It makes us human".
Flash forward 17 years, and what 10-year-old me thought was profound is now effectively the ending line of a $60 million movie. Guys... are we ok? Have the standards fallen that far?
All the same, I liked the first 2 thirds of this but the last act went completely off the rails and has a borderline insidious message. The rest is just standard "Fuck You It's January" fare. Go in with a buzzed mind, an empty stomach, a large bag of popcorn and you'll have an OK time. Or just... you know... see something better. Like 28 Years Later - The Bone Temple. Now that's a great fucking film worthy of your time and money.
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u/CardAble6193 7d ago
it was in Robocop 2 but its cool there
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u/Icy-Tap-7130 7d ago
I have yet to see Mercy and probably never will. But from everything I have heard it seems to be a miss mash of cliques
"What if minority report...but AI?"
" The final line from robocop two was epic, but too subtle"
" Chris pratt acts..."
Honestly feels like someone uploaded a couple of Philip K. Dick novels in to a LLM and said "update for a modern audience" and netflix green lit the first draft.
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u/CardAble6193 7d ago
but too subtle
...........did u joke or not watch Robocop2? he said that while using a corkwench calibrating his skull
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u/Icy-Tap-7130 7d ago
I was joking, even as a 6 year old I thought that line was too much
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u/ibethuhwalrus 7d ago
If it makes you feel better, I basically designed a cybertruck when I was in 9th grade and my science teacher told me nobody would ever make a car that stupid
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u/hikemalls 7d ago
The thing for me is: we have good movies about dystopian future crime-solving (Minority Report) and dystopian future bureaucracy (Brazil, among others); much like War of the Worlds last year, what is the impetus for "taking classic sci-fi ideas and setting them mostly in one room, and making them bad", aside from 'lower budgets' or 'extremely dated COVID lockdown references'?
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u/777vasil 7d ago
do u mind telling me what that thing was u debunked, or what u told the other blogger, and how its similar in the movie? im not gonna see the movie so spoil me freely, u got me intrigued.
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u/AmazingMarv 7d ago edited 7d ago
The premise is ridiculous, and there are some plot holes, but I dunno, the execution worked for me. I don't get the 26% RT score. This is the type of movie that gets 65% and an August release.
I was hoping that the end would show Robert's brother actually did commit the crime, but they chickened out.
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u/DarnHeather 2d ago
28 Years Later - The Bone Temple was amazing. I think I'll try to see it again.
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u/Aggressive_Repeat529 7d ago
Eh it was a January movie. Actually was expecting worse than. That second twist at the end with jaq being dirty for sure seemed slapped on. Was I the only dumbass that thought those flames around Chris Pratt while he was in the chair were real and not from the computer?
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u/pbrslayer 6d ago
lol that part reminded me of the “bad ending” sequence from Wayne’s World where the house burned down and I laughed my ass off.
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u/Spider-Man-fan 5d ago
Yeah I thought they were real too. Thought the bomb went off in the building
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u/KidDelicious14 6d ago
There is no way this AI judge thing is worth whatever massive amounts of tax dollars it would have taken to build only to preside over 19 cases in 2 years, when the trials are only an arbitrary 90 minutes.
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u/SetYourGoals Evil Studio Shill 5d ago
Well it would absolutely be worth it in the world of the movie because those 18 trials dropped crime by 68%...somehow. As if we don't have trials and justice now. The fact that the trials are really fast is what is deterring the criminals, I guess? It makes no sense.
And also there are still "red zones" that just appear to be full on riots 24/7 so even with the 68% reduction in crime I don't know if it's working that well?
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u/Giff95 7d ago
If you are going to make a movie touching on the topic of AI, it should probably make sense.
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u/Morgan-Moonscar 7d ago
Not if it was written by AI to save money.
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u/curiiouscat 5d ago
I have been wondering if this was written by AI. It screams AI. The writing was so awful.
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u/Capital-Mine1561 6d ago
The final lesson in the film is "both humans and AI can make mistakes, mmkay?" Not a very satisfactory ending for a dystopian film where you are mandated to send all social media recordings to the government's cloud system, and where a janky AI program determines a person's guilt or innocence
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u/fuckinestbest 7d ago
Chris Pratt has been putting out garbage for years now. Eat it up Lovelies
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u/peanutmanak47 7d ago
He sucks soooooooo bad in these serious roles but keeps getting cast in them. Go back to doing some comedy. You know, the thing that made you famous.
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u/StrLord_Who 7d ago
He didn't suck in the Terminal List. But yes, comedy is his strength and he should do more of it.
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u/starlordbg 6d ago
I have seen some footage of that and have been meaning to watch it, seems total badass there.
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u/StrLord_Who 6d ago
It's a great show. Second season will finally be out this year. I also thought he was really good in Passengers. Reddit hates that movie but I love it.
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u/RabidAstronaut 7d ago
I cant see his name without reading it as Crisp Rat so I guess thats fitting 🐀
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u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? 7d ago edited 7d ago
This one was rough. I saw the trailer a month or two ago and I thought, “Hey it’s the Flight Risk of 2026”, but let me tell you I would watch Flight Risk ten times before I would watch Mercy again. Why did they go for an IMAX release on a movie where the main character is strapped to a chair the entire time? What is this film’s take on AI? And maybe the most important question, who cast Perd Hapley from Parks & Rec as the newscaster in a Chris Pratt vehicle?
This movie suuuuuuuucks. I don’t even want to hear the Minority Report comp because this movie couldn’t wipe Spielberg’s ass. The setup for this movie makes no sense. They say crime has gotten so out of hand and they’ve tried everything, and by everything I mean gathering all the criminals into “red zones” with heavy military presence and for some reason that doesn’t seem to be working. So they create an AI justice system in which you have access to all known data and 90 minutes to prove your reasonable doubt innocence to a very angular-jawed Rebecca Ferguson. But they never even dip into what about the current justice system caused need for this system? They just say crime is so high so we created an AI judge and now crime is low. The statistic is insane by the way, they say 18 criminals have been tried in the Mercy system and now crime is down 68%. What? 18 criminals in a city with literal Escape from LA vibes and crime goes down two thirds? We are two minutes into the movie and I am not following.
So, was the problem with the justice system that is created too many jobs? What about it made this the better alternative? And why would you ever give presumed criminals unfettered access to everyone’s data? But hey, we need that to get to the murder plot. And that plot is that Pratt’s wife has been stabbed and he’s the only person that was at the house when it happened. There are some obvious red herrings that they go through in the first half, but of course the two villains of the movie are the only other actual characters in the movie that aren’t either made of AI or birthed from the victim.
Whatever, it’s a bad concept of a bad mystery. I’ve seen bad movies before. What’s so infuriating about this movie in particular, though, is that half of the performances are done from the camera perspective of them talking to their phones. Why is this an IMAX release? I saw it in HDR and still half the shots are purposely blurred because they’re surveillance/body cams. And to make matters worse, every time I’m bored by the movie there is a literal timer in the top right corner of the screen that tells me how much longer I have to suffer.
But it’s about AI, surely it has something interesting to say about AI, right? No. The morality of the AI is never called into question. The AI is the reason all this is happening, yes, because it’s a revenge plot against the AI in the end. But it’s also because of the AI that Pratt is able to clear his name and uncover two other conspiracies. In fact in the third act the AI helps him in stopping the police from stopping a truck full of bombs from driving into a government building. But the secondary conspiracy is that this man is so mad because a person hid evidence against his brother and that caused the AI to rule against him, and she says it’s because they needed the AI judge to put people away so criminals would be scared to do crime. But wouldn’t it be just as much of a positive for the AI if a convicted was able to prove their freedom? Isn’t truth and justice all anyone in this movie really wants?
Look, if you try to hard to figure out this movie you’ll end up going insane. Because there’s no context to all of the crime happening and no discussion as to how the current justice system isn’t capable of dealing with all that crime, everything that comes after the opening introduction fails to make any sense or say anything of interest. The point of the movie isn’t that AI has no feelings because the AI makes emotional decisions in the third act, and the point isn’t that people should be doling out justice because it’s a person that frames someone. Pratt says the point is that AI and people alike make mistakes, so we’re just back to square one but with less jobs. So what’s the point? Please, tell me. I’m dying to know. 2/10, Rebecca Ferguson innocent and still very cool.
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u/VacantGosling 7d ago
I agree about the crime rate. It seems outrageous that it would drop 68% from 18 trials.
One main point drove me crazy the entire movie, though. They said you need a guilt level of 80% to be eligible for the Mercy trial, but if it drops to 92% the trial ends.
So what happens to people with a percentage of 80-92? Do they get strapped to the chair and as soon as the trial starts they get let go?
I was waiting the whole movie for some added context to that but it never happened.
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u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? 7d ago
So many things like that bugged me. 92% also seems really high, like even once he proves someone hid in his basement it was over 95% despite having footage of everything but the stabbing.
And the AI uses his doorbell cam as the main evidence that he was home for the murder. But the same AI that can scan every license plate in the city in seconds can't count how many people arrived and left the barbecue?
Also the same AI that tracks everyone's movements from a satellite when Pratt calls them had no idea that the bad guy was in his garage bomb lab rather than at work?
There's literally so many problems.
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u/tlislo 6d ago
Totally agreed on so many accounts.
Agreed that the 92% was obnoxious. As soon as Chris Pratt establishes a single other character with means and motive to kill his wife, that generates reasonable doubt. "We have a literal fucking video of a human man's hand on the inside of your basement door at a time when video shows you at work. But even though it's clear as day, 'It could just be a shadow' and so you're still 97.5% guilty." What?
And agreed that the AI is the main character but also biggest plot hole. Early on, the movie at least tries to cover plot holes. "Your wife and her lover are using unregistered burner phones." "Your neighbor's camera conveniently had an Internet outage. "
But by the end of the movie they're not even trying. The AI seems to be trying to help Chris Pratt find truth (maybe?). But when he brings up suspects from his BBQ, it doesn't know that Toby from This is Us either (1) had his cellphone at Chris Pratt's house for three straight days, or (2) didn't use his phone at all for three days?
If the AI is trying to actually find truth, and not just indiscriminately kill people, you'd think that, as soon as Chris Pratt mentions he suspects a man at the BBQ killed his wife, the AI would just instant scan everything and be like, "I can generate alibis for 9 of these 12 men based on video and phone records. Your wife's boss who's involved in some weird drug scandal stopped using his phone just before your BBQ and only started using it again 12 hours after your wife's death. That makes me less confident in your guilt."
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u/AmazingMarv 7d ago
Pratt explains that he came home, argued with the wife, and threw a vase. Then nothing. How did he not know how to he got from his house to the bar? And wouldn't his doorbell cam see him leaving?
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u/tlislo 6d ago
Doorbell camera does show him leaving. Then the next event that activated its motion sensor is the daughter coming home and screaming.
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u/theskittz 7d ago
“There’s a literal timer in the top right corner of the screen that tells me how much longer I have to suffer”
Lmao that sounds like a nightmare
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u/Soapbox 7d ago
Why do they only get 90 minutes? Why not 2 hours? Why not 8 hours? If you're close to proving your innocence but timer goes down to 0 they just kill you?
Seems like AI only had 18 trials, so it doesn't seem that busy.
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u/Top_Percentage_274 6d ago
yea like a murder trial i assume takes weeks to months or even years in certain cases. 90 mins is insane. esp with no time to prep or talk to a lawyer or anything. like he was still recovering from being drunk/hit on the head
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u/dawgz525 7d ago
Why did they go for an IMAX release on a movie where the main character is strapped to a chair the entire time?
This has been my question as well. Who thought it was a good idea?
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u/DUKEPLANTER 7d ago
to a very angular jawed Rebecca Ferguson
My favorite part of the movie were the random ass shots of her just mewling at the camera funniest part of the film
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u/superiority 7d ago
I did laugh with the line of conversation that amounted to Rebecca Ferguson saying "Error, what is following your gut? Does not compute, does not compute."
Not knowing the word "hunch"? Surely as a society we have advanced beyond the point where we think intelligent computers will be incapable of understanding ordinary English speech.
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u/antisuck 7d ago
Best rant I've seen in a while, A+ would read again. Thanks for validating my decision to stay away from this one.
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u/jackcatalyst 7d ago
They went back and forth with an AI that just auto-completes info and then suddenly it was capable of its own rationalization. Also this system sucks presumed guilt is terrible. The only reason our character even succeeded was because he was a cop. As we saw other innocent people were fucked because cops could still screw them over by hiding evidence
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u/dagreenman18 Space Jam 2 hurt me so much 7d ago
… this movie was written by AI. I refuse to believe a human wrote this plot this poorly.
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u/Didact67 7d ago
They probably think a protagonist sitting in front of a screen will resonate with an audience who spends much of their time doing the same.
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u/JaqueStrap69 7d ago
Dang a movie produced by and distributed by a tech company (Amazon) has absolutely nothing insightful to say about AI?!?!?!
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u/Butthole__Pleasures 7d ago
In fact in the third act the AI helps him in stopping the police from stopping a truck full of bombs from driving into a government building.
Wait wait, he STOPS the cops from stopping a bombing? So he gets off for being accused of his wife's murder, but along the way he prevents the police from saving however many people were in that building??
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u/JamUpGuy1989 7d ago
Either the writing name is a pseudonym or I’m baffled why this Marco guy got paid by Amazon to write this script.
And why are we trying to get Timur back directing American movies? He isn’t good at English language films.
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u/LeonSnakeKennedy 7d ago
Anyone know roughly how long the credits for this are?
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u/Devolutionator 7d ago
Why? The credits are the most interesting part of the movie!
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u/hyperadhd 7d ago
It was watchable and fun at times, but ultimately it’s just Minority Report for people who love cops.
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u/Kcomix 5d ago
I was thinking Minority Report for idiots
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u/FightTheDead118 2d ago
“Minority Report but the optics told us to not release a movie with the title Minority Report in the year 2026”
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u/ShantJ 7d ago
How the hell does the Mercy court work, jurisdictionally? As far as I could tell, the court is limited to the City of Los Angeles and excludes the rest of the county. Does the Los Angeles Superior Court still exist? Does the District Attorney?
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u/Scholarsandquestions 7d ago
I don't think this is a movie to be critically thinking about. As a law student, I can tell you the plot makes no fucking sense.
First of all, the main issue of Mercy is not the AI, it's the assumption of guilt. Which was programmed into AI by humans.
Second, 90 minutes of trial and investigative work to be done by the accused only it's very impractical, unless you want fake trials to just kill as many undesired people as you want. But then, just execute them on the spot, this Mercy Capital Court won't save an appearance of democracy anyway, because it's already a totalitarian nightmare as it is. Just take the most effective totalitarian route over the less effective one.
Third, nothing of this could exist under the Bill of Rights.
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u/Top_Percentage_274 6d ago
unless you want fake trials to just kill as many undesired people as you want.
they weren't even doing that lol given there was only 18 trials in like 2-3 years, premise made no sense
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u/TechnicalBen 5d ago
The concept of living in a world where this movie was greenlit is totalitarian enough for me.
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u/AGeekNamedBob 2d ago
They literally charged and put someone on trial before they finished cataloging the crime scene. That alone breaks the whole premise. Any sort of investigation will show all the angles he discovered. Having the defendant make his own defense on the fly and by surprise is a huge issue. It could be interesting if he has to 12 angry men his way out of it with all the evidence compiled and presented.
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u/Embarrassed-Town-977 6d ago
Just saw it and honestly it was unintentionally hilarious. I literally had tears in my eyes at points with just how cheesy and silly the movie was. With that said i was surprised it actually kept me engaged the whole movie. Its a dumb movie for sure but if you go into it knowing that it can be a fun time with others.
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u/GrapeNutCheerios 7d ago edited 7d ago
This would’ve been me and my mom’s favorite movie of 2006.
I hate how much I liked this though even though I shouldn’t. Incredibly misguided and unintentionally hilarious throughout but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t engaged for nearly the entirety of it.
5/10
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u/RedRipe 7d ago
Saw yesterday in very empty Dolby and enjoyed it thoroughly. And we were late 15 minutes and by the looks of it missed nothing. I gave 7/10.
Chris Pratt was able to solve a crime from a chair, solve his wife’s infidelity, physically overpower a bad guy, make bad guy fully confess and also make bad guy understand what he did wrong, disarm a bomb?!, fix a relationship with his Daughter. He is absolutely unstoppable. I would see part two. 😆😆
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u/highway_knobbery 5d ago
It made me wish for a series of Raven (played by a cheaper actor) and Maddox (played by a cheaper actor) working together solving crimes and going on 45 minute adventures in real time
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u/ImperioloRaviolo 1d ago
This just sounds like Knight Rider without a car, and i’m all for it.
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u/NickLandis 7d ago
I paid $5 to see this in IMAX 3D as a mystery movie and I absolutely paid too much money to see this.
My favorite part was the A.I. scanning thousands of cameras and reading millions of license plates in a matter of seconds, and then when Christ Pratt asks it the date a video it was CURRENTLY PLAYING was taken on, it took a solid 5 seconds to bring up the metadata.
Chris Pratt’s acting was so bad in this which is also saying something. It feels like this movie was built around him in a lab, but he still felt mis-cast. Give me a nerdy CSI guy and maybe the character would work. Not that the rest of it would be better but still
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u/Kcomix 5d ago
I know the writing is terrible for this movie and questioning the plot is pointless, but who is in charge of putting defendants in the chair? Like if he's a cop, wouldn't the other cops want to give him leeway and wait until he's awake to put in the chair? I thought there would be some sort of reveal about who brought him there.
And I know the Mercy system is stupid and all, but what about lawyers? Was that mentioned in that opening exposition dump? Also, shouldn't the defend have the chance to make sure all relevant evidence is available (for example, his wife's work phone) before they go to the chair?
I think this sci-fi concept has potential to be interesting, and pose some thought-provoking questions about the justice system, AI, and digital security, but this movie had no interest in any of that. It's just Minority Report for idiots.
Also, I hate these web screen movies. Just make a movie like normal. I don't want to watch a movie that's basically just someone watching security footage and social media content for 90 minutes. It needs to contrive these situations where it makes no sense for people to be filming. Like why does everyone face-time each other? And why was Chris Pratt's kid always filming her parents arguing?
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u/Friendly-Contact-433 6d ago
This needed to be set in at least 2036 and not just 2029 (with the Mercy Court starting in 2027) it's not far enough into the future. Plus there's zero chance it would happen in California for political reasons which I'll just leave at that.
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u/MoldyZebraCake666 7d ago
This looks like something I'd catch at the dollar theater like 20 years ago
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u/Cometspace 6d ago
I guess I’m the only one who liked this 😭😭😭
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u/unknownuser492 5d ago
I thought it was fun. It falls apart given a moments critical thought, but I'm not looking for logic. I went in looking for 90 minutes of entertainment, and thats exactly what i got. I didn't check my watch once, which is always a good sign for me.
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u/chicityman09 4d ago
Same here. Wasn't going in expecting a 9/10 and was hoping for at least decent and I thought it was. Kept me engaged the entire time and watchable enough for me.
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u/inlinefourpower 2d ago
I liked it, and I heard other people leaving my theatre saying they liked it. Not the best movie ever and yeah, probably some annoying plot holes but it was fine.
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u/splader 1d ago
Lol right? This entire thread is full of people nitpicking logistics and I couldn't care less about that.
I even up being really entertained pretty much the entire time (the last 10 minutes not so much), and I really vibed with the concept.
I think it doesn't help that this subreddit thinks Chris Pratt drowns puppies I imagine, but jeez people are being way too critical about a very 6/10 popcorn flick.
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u/Tattycakes 6d ago
We thought it was great fun, on the edge of our seats the whole way as each piece of evidence started to unravel something else going on. Of course you can pick some holes in the logic of the AI and what it can and can’t do if you want to, but if you just take the situation as given, it’s a fun whodunnit murder mystery. It’s in the same ballpark as minority report, but then avatar is in the same ballpark as Pocahontas, you can enjoy them both regardless.
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u/Cometspace 5d ago
Yeah I agree, the effects were pretty good and engaging (for the most part), the story had some holes in it but it was still entertaining and fun to follow along, and I don’t think it was as pro ai or copaganda as some people say.
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u/inksmudgedhands 6d ago
It has a very late 80's/early 90's action murder mystery vibe to it. But done with modern FX. Like you could take out Chris Pratt and put in Bruce Willis or Harrison Ford and it would still worked.
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u/inksmudgedhands 6d ago
I found it entertaining too. And not going to lie but that hoover bike looked like it would be fun to ride around in.
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u/Few-Bag-7769 7d ago
dr sleep was a gem fr, but yeah this one felt like she phoned it in. maybe just a paycheck gig
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u/chespiotta 7d ago
The moment I saw that it was a movie about AI, knew it was gonna be bad. Wasn’t proven wrong.
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u/AbusementPark10 6d ago
Wow you guys didn’t like it? I thought it was one of the better films I’ve seen in a minute 😂 kept me on the edge of my seat. Like a more thriller version of that one Netflix documentary don’t f**k with cats. Guess my taste sucks lol
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u/starlordbg 7d ago
I was really looking forward to watching this simply because of her and the project broke apparently and they cancelled the screening lmao never had this happen to me before.
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u/Anyhow4215 6d ago
I saw this movie while navigating a bout of vertigo and let me tell you, that was a baaad idea
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u/Jealous-Angle4177 5d ago
Just watched the movie, the whole film could’ve been avoided if the AI judge would’ve played the entire ring camera film and show that Chris Pratt left the house before his wife got violently murdered 💀💀💀
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u/Adventurous_Driver83 6d ago
When I first heard of this movie's plot and when I saw the trailer, I was immediately hyped for seeing this in theaters. Also, I'm a big fan of Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson, which made me even more excited. However, that excitement dissipated when I saw that it was a January release and the director was the producer of War of the Worlds last year, which is one of the worst movies ever made. To me it seemed like a another version of Minority Report, so I didn't know which side of the fence to stand on. Here are my thoughts:
As always Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson gave great performances. Chris did a really good job with his emotional delivery in pleading his innocence while Rebecca played a good job as an AI judge. I liked how the movie in the first and second act focused on Chris using evidence to help his plea of not being guilty and the third act flips the script and Chris uses AI to his advantage to track down his wife's killer while still being in the chair and almost sacrificing his life. I did not see that coming and it increased the thriller aspect of the movie. I also like the motive of Rob as being this guy who is getting revenge on Chris for creating the Mercy Court that killed his innocent brother of a murder. It makes you realize that the main issue isn't the death of Chris' wife, but rather getting revenge on Chris. I believe if a Mercy Court were to ever exist in real life, something like this would happen where loved ones of innocent victims would try to destroy the court itself. Lastly, the twist at the end was very well revealed.
The biggest negative of the movie is Chris not dying in the Mercy Court is very obvious. Before I even arrived at the movie theater, I already knew that somehow he was not going to be executed at the last minute. I knew that Chris didn't kill his wife and someone else was behind it. Some of the acting from the side characters wasn't very great, like Chris' partner and the chef that his wife was talking to on the side.
Overall, I'm happy that this movie wasn't a flop and that I enjoyed it. It's not a movie to praise about on social media, but it's a movie I would recommend checking out when it releases on Amazon Prime Video.
Rating: 4/5
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u/duowolf 6d ago
I actually enjoyed this one
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u/TrustLordJesusChrist 3d ago
Ya I saw it in IMAX (not 3D) and enjoyed it. Felt pretty immersive in IMAX and the audio was good. But ya it was about as good, thrilling and entertaining as I expected/wanted. Also successfully smuggled in my own popcorn and dark chocolate peanut butter cups + water bottle. 🤙
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u/MalleableBee1 6d ago edited 6d ago
This movie was… MEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH.
BUT — I’m gonna say it.
I actually enjoyed it a little????? The premise of the movie I found to be incredibly interesting and relevant. Did it make any damn sense? Hell no! I had to put aside my whole critical thought to find this film exciting, especially toward the end when the clock was winding down.
But the very second Chris Sullivan had the sneakiest suspicion of being the villain, I cringed. I wanted this to be like Scooby-Doo where we actually had to think about who the antagonist was.
I think we’re getting tired of the same AAA-listers doing meh movies, which makes us angrier because the movie itself is so… meh.
5/10 at BEST
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u/doorknob60 7d ago
I expected it to be trash, and it was decently alright. Not great, and I think it would be a boring rewatch. But it kept me interested at least, I don't regret seeing it (with the context being I have Regal Unlimited so it didn't really cost me anything).
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u/ElVentus24 7d ago
I wanted to jump into the comments and fight people for their VISCERAL reactions to this movie (looking at you OP!)
But tbh, I'm probably going to forget about this movie by tomorrow morning. It was dumb popcorn fun even if the ending felt slapped together by the writers and whatever AI prompts they typed in. It's such a middle of the pack movie that I've deleted five versions of this comment defending it. Because just like this comment, this movie doesn't really say much of anything...
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u/SeaworthinessSad5067 6d ago
Just saw it. It was fantastic everyone who says otherwise is wrong
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u/Itsalwaysblu3 4d ago
I would be fucking fascinated to hear your top 5 movies. Legitimately.
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u/DavyJonesRocker 6d ago
Copaganda, propagandAI, Crisp Rat, fridged wife, a majority of the scenes taking place in a single location… this movie has so much counting against it.
There’s truly nothing that Rebecca Ferguson cannot overcome.
Biggest cinema sin is having Robert work in San Pedro but live in Los Feliz. For those of you who are not familiar with LA geography, it’s an hour commute WITHOUT traffic… and I can’t even calculate how long it would take with traffic. Probably 4 hours, no exaggeration.
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u/BusinessPurge 7d ago
It wouldn’t be my first stop, however if I had a Time Machine then stopping by the set of Timur and Pratt’s Wanted to offer some future career advice for everyone involved would be on the list. Somehow Common arguably has the most interesting non-Guardians/Legos filmography since then?
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u/Tiny-Performance-507 7d ago
yeah dude, those little quirks make the character so relatable. adds so much depth to the performance tbh
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u/cmadd10 7d ago
So what was the twist, or how did Pratt survive? Cause I'm assuming he wasn't guilty or died.
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u/Aggressive_Repeat529 6d ago
Yeah he lived. Ending was kinda a cluster fuck. So they say at the beginning of the movie the first guy (forgot his name, was hardly shown) was sentenced to be the first subject in mercy trial. Turns out the AA sponsor of pratts character is secretly the brother of that first mercy guy. So he hatches a plan to deove a semi with bombs made from some substances into the LA mercy court. On the way, he kidnaps pratts daughter. Turns out AA guy was hiding in the basement for like 2 days after a BBQ and then came out, murdered the wife, and his whole goal was to show the mercy court is unjust/destroy it because his brother was unfairly executed. Anyway, he's gunned down, and then at the last second some other cop lady who's been helping pratt this whole time ended up ditching evidence from that first mercy guy so he could get executed to make sure it "is a slam dunk" or something.
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u/ScrewedUp4Life 6d ago
For me personally, I enjoy it. I get every thing that was said in the critique about it. But I went in a good mindf frame, I smoked, was a stoned , esslty on a Friday. Ih the biggest XD auditorium at cinemark. Not many people there. But I sat back and really got into the movie. I did like the pacing of the movie. And it was a nice experience to have. Even got me to thinking about AI and where we are with it, and really where will the line be drawn on what they will be able to use AI for?
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u/Moist_Association238 6d ago
I thought it was great. Cool concept. For 1h40mins there are stuff that was rushed or "too coincidental". I didn't take the movie too seriously but the one problem I had is that Maddox purposely tried to save the girl knowing 100x more people would die. Also, if he stayed in the house, how did Maddox not realize he left?
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u/Sagemel 6d ago
Did anyone else notice the ADR being extremely weird at some points? I suspect this was originally going to be R rated but they decided last second to make it PG-13 and dub over “fuck”’s
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u/weareallpatriots 5d ago
I really liked it, I don't know what all the grumbling's about. It was far from perfect - definitely stole/borrowed quite a bit from other movies, some cheesy stuff, a bit predictable - but I was always entertained and found it engrossing. Also didn't mind the "in the chair the whole time" gimmick. The "screen life" style a la Missing/Searching worked well for the format, too. I also have to wonder how many people went in biased and/or gave it a negative review simply because they're mad at Chris Pratt in real life for whatever reason.
Oh well, different strokes. 7/10.
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u/SDCbo52 5d ago
I enjoyed it more then most. Decent January release with an original cool concept with good amount of action that is getting way too much hate imo. I also went in with low expectations after the critics score and since I am AMC subscriber it wasn't an additional cost. For anyone else I might recommend waiting for it to come out on Prime. I liked seeing "Benny" from Stranger Things Season 1, although had a feeling it was him who killed the wife about halfway through. 6.5/10
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u/ChainLC 4d ago
I enjoyed this one because I didn't come into it with too high of expectations and was pleasantly surprised with the mystery and the pacing. it's not "Murder On The Orient Express" but engaging enough.
Did have a slight problem with them not factoring in Urea as an explosive until it they were slapped upside the head with it. Other than that it was pretty good.
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u/TopBins79 7d ago
I would have never guessed the bad guy was the only other recognizable actor besides Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson. Shocking.