Film Review: Mercy (2023)

STUDIO: Paramount | DIRECTORS: Tony Dean Smith | CAST: Leah Gibson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jon Voight, Anthony Konechny
DIGITAL/ON DEMAND RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2023/June 2, 2023
SPECS: R | 85 min. | Action thriller

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie 1/2

In the action-thriller Mercy, a local hospital is under siege by the mob but luckily there is one doctor on staff who is trained to wield more than just a scalpel.

Michele (Leah Gibson, TV’s Jessica Jones) is an ex-military doctor whose husband died – or rather exploded – on her surgical table during the war in Afghanistan.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers means business in Mercy

Working years later at Boston’s Mercy Hospital and getting ready to take her take her young son out for a special celebration, Irish crime family patriarch (Jon Voight, Runaway Train) and his hench men arrive to take back his son Ryan (Anthony Konechny, Married by Mistake) who Michele has just stitched up after being shot while in FBI custody.

Ryan’s brother Sean (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, TV’s Vikings) has other nefarious intentions and soon takes over the hospital, setting up a deadly hostage situation. Michele jumps into action, becoming a female John McClane – right down to the trademark white tank top – and engages in a deadly battle for survival.

Established television director Tony Dean Smith (Volition) competently handles the action in this, his third feature film. He uses the hospital setting to full advantage, finding the tension in claustrophobic exam rooms and long dark hallways. The fight scenes are well-choreographed without offering anything unique. To his credit, Smith moves the film along at a swift pace and it clocks in at a taut 85 minutes.

What’s missing from the story written by Alex Wright (Love on the Menu), is more nuanced characters. The solid cast is truly squandered. Michele’s only personality trait is being tough, widowed mom. Patrick comes across as a bland, unthreatening villain (even with Voight chewing his way through every scene). Sean’s motivations, which work in direct conflict to those of his father, are vastly unexplored. This is particularly glaring as it is Sean’s ridiculously head scratching decisions that push the plot into motion.

As a generic action-thriller, Mercy fits the bill and you might consider a trip to this hospital where the gunfire never ends, if you have a low co-pay.