Chris Pratt steps way outside his familiar action hero comfort zone Mercyand according to the film’s director, the transformation is both striking and deeply emotional.
At the sci-fi thriller’s New York City premiere on January 20, director Timur Bekmambetov shared that audiences will see a side of Pratt they might not expect.
IN MercyPratt plays Chris Raven, a homicide detective accused of murdering his wife and forced to prove his innocence within 90 minutes during a high-stakes trial overseen by an advanced AI judge.
If he fails, he faces immediate execution.
Bekmambetov described Pratt’s performance as raw and unusually exposed, stressing that the film goes far beyond standard action danger.
While viewers are used to seeing Pratt as tough, fast and physically dominant, this role required something completely different.
“This movie, it’s not just an action movie because we expect Chris Pratt to be tough and jump and entertain us, but it’s [also] very vulnerable, very broken man. And that was unique to him,” said the director.
“He played this for the first time.”
The director pointed to one particular moment as the film’s emotional core, the last conversation between Raven and his wife before her death.
“It’s the most dramatic, nervous, painful and emotional scene,” Bekmambetov said, noting that it was also his favorite to film.
Despite having previously worked together on the 2008 action thriller Wantedsaid Bekmambetov Mercy confirmed Pratt’s range as an actor.
He admitted he was surprised by “how unexpectedly dramatic he could be,” calling the performance proof of Pratt’s versatility.
Much of the tension in the Mercy comes from confinement.
Raven spends most of the film strapped to a chair during her trial, a stark contrast to Pratt’s usual physically demanding roles. Speaking at New York Comic Con last year, Pratt explained that the limitation was deliberate.
“I asked them to lock me in [the chair],” he said. “So I didn’t have to pretend I was strapped in.”
“I was tied to this chair both by the feet and by the hands,” he added, explaining that the discomfort and claustrophobia helped him stay emotionally grounded during intense scenes.
Pratt also prepared by spending time with LAPD homicide detectives, an experience he said left a lasting impression.
“Man, these guys are heroes,” he told me PEOPLEadding that hearing their stories gave him a deeper respect for the trauma officers face every day.
With its emotional weight, psychological tension and stripped-down performance, Mercy presents Pratt in a way audiences haven’t seen before. The film is now in cinemas.
