Mercy

I am told that American Netflix has a far better selection of movies; good movies, i.e. ones with a coherent plot, good acting and a sense of dramatic timing. However I have seen enough of Canadian Netflix to assert that many movies on the service are simply filler that must have been made by wealthy "wanna-be" film producers or charming con artists who managed to cajole wealthy friends to part with their money and finance a film. All the imagination and timing went into the making of the trailer for this. Do not be fooled. You have been warned. I'll give a nod to Mercy's maker for the first 20 minutes or so: he did a capable, if pedestrian, job of setting up the dramatic contours for a conflict of some kind that does not end well. Had the remainder of the movie followed this arc (without resorting to a clumsy back-in-time approach to explain what just happened which left me confused at various points) then I would have rated this a 6 (for mildly diverting, at times intense, but I am glad I didn't drop $12 to see this at a theatre).

Mercy wasn't necessarily a bad film, indeed the opening twenty minutes or so were rather intriguing, a nice build up, good motives for family feud, but once it started unravelling it transformed into nonsense. At times I was reminded of You're Next, but at no stage did it reach those levels of gripping excitement.

It wasn't difficult to follow, but the realisation of who was behind the home invasion was dealt with in a way that you can only describe as heavy handed, the reveal three quarters of the way through was very silly, I couldn't take it seriously. Too many unanswered questions at the end, were all brothers aware of what was going on? Never fully answered.

Quite well acted, with decent production values, the masks were very effective, but with those, as with the rest of the film, there's nothing new here. A little flat, 5/10

I won't go too in depth on the plot of the movie, since quite a few have already done so in these reviews. This movie had a few interesting ideas that I personally haven't encountered too often. However I found the movie's story writing to be very sloppy. There wasn't much to figure as a viewer, so a lot of the suspense was lost. You could tell the jumpscares we're coming a mile away. They spent no time developing the characters, so you didn't care when anything happens to them. For me personally, by the time I learned their name, they were gone. If I had to describe this movie in two words it would sloppy and, most importantly, BORING. Seems as though Netflix is no longer concerned with the quality of their own content. Big surprise.

Not well written or executed. The acting was fine, but the characters were not well developed. For example, we just get bits and pieces of conversation. Nothing is ever hashed out, which is frustrating due to the presentation of tension between the characters. Other things just don't make sense. Why plot a home invasion at the rare evening when the entire family (6 and a guest) all happen to be there? Victim one in the woods stabs his perpetrator with a knife then leaves the knife in the body rather than cutting the ropes around his wrists. Another brother uncovers a motorcycle from the shed, and oh my, there happens to also be a loaded gun there as well. One step brother reveals to the other that he and his real brother are cut out of the inheritance-why? what's the purpose? That would completely work against the final twist of the plot. There's more, but hopefully I've said enough to keep you from wasting your time.

The ambiance builds up nicely until the night falls, then a mess begins. The concept is very interesting and with a great potential but for some reason it falls flat halfway. Good acting from the disillusioned father whom you hate almost straightaway; the brothers leave you dancing in circles as to their allegiance; then the three-line role for Melissa, a general disappointment. The story twists are not twisted, I would've expected the contrary.