This movie was definitely one that was high on my to-watch list, thanks to seeing it advertised on YouTube, so I went to see it on the opening weekend. And I have to say, I was not disappointed.

The whole concept of Mercy as an AI who plays judge, jury and executioner is something that feels like it could be scarily real with the way the world is going right now. I have to say that my original interpretation of the trailer was that the police detective, Chris Raven, would be literally fighting to prove his innocence against an AI in a fight to the death…but despite the fact that this movie had him strapped into a chair, fighting to prove his innocence with the evidence available to him, it did a really good job of building both tension and mystery.

Judge Maddox was a character who could have come across as really stilted and unfeeling, but in my opinion, Rebecca Ferguson portrays her in such a way that I could almost forget the AI wasn’t actually human.

The fact that Chris didn’t remember anything about what had happened the day before added so much tension to his interactions with Maddox. The deeper he tried to search, to find some shred of his innocence, the more I found myself questioning – did he actually do it? Did he murder his wife? I mean, it was the most logical explanation, given what was revealed as the movie went on. And I really liked being able to learn more about Chris’ history and relationships with his family as video recordings and social media evidence were sorted through.

The idea of guilt being judged by percentage was a really interesting one. The amount required for a guilty verdict seemed pretty high…but at the same time, Mercy lacked the humanity needed for seeds of doubt to be shown. After all, an AI is incapable of feeling human emotion. Maddox even says that to Chris. And yet, I found myself caring about the friendship that formed between Chris and Maddox, in spite of the fact that, as an AI, Maddox should have only been able to react within the parameters of her programming. At the same time, the way she changed over the course of the movie was done really well.

One main thing I liked about this movie was that it felt like it was something that could not only happen in real life, but something that isn’t too far from becoming a reality in the future. Of course, it’s not something that should ever be done in reality, since an AI doesn’t have the nuances required to consider reasonable doubt…and really, no one should be executed when there’s even a possibility they might be innocent. And interestingly enough, even Maddox says that the percentage of guilt can never go to 100%.

All told, I really did enjoy this movie, and I would recommend watching it if you’re interested in science fiction that actually could become reality in the future. This is definitely a movie I wouldn’t mind seeing again.