Did you remember that Chris Pratt appeared in Timur Bekmambetov’s big Hollywood debut, the 2008 action film Wanted? The one based on the Mark Millar comic that starred Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, and also some looms? I did not remember this. (I did remember the looms, though.) But it means that the upcoming film Mercy, from Amazon MGM Studios, is a reunion for the actor and director.
Mercy, according to Deadline, “follows a detective (Pratt) who is accused of a violent crime and forced to prove his innocence.” The screenplay is by Marco van Belle, who wrote a 2015 film called Arthur and Merlin.
Deadline quotes Bekmambetov as saying, “Amazon is the ideal partner for telling this crucial story about the future challenged by artificial intelligence and for engaging in this conversation with a wide audience.” The film is apparently part of a series of movies that Amazon MGM plans to release theatrically. Producer Charles Roven has quite a track record (including Christopher Nolan’s Batman films) and was just nominated for his second Oscar, for Oppenheimer.
While Chris Pratt is basically a household name thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy (pictured above), Bekmambetov has been somewhat less visible since either Wanted or 2012’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, depending on your tastes. (He also directed a poorly received Ben-Hur adaptation in 2016.) His breakout film, the vampire adaptation Night Watch, was released in the U.S. in 2006, and was inventive, bloody, and impressive; I’ve been waiting for another movie like it for a very long time.
Will this be that film? Tough to say.
