i saw this on cctv movie channel,it's really a good film,at first i felt it was just a common criminal film about kidnap,but,i found it was more than crime as i finished seeing it,it showed the bad side of our society and human!..anyway,it's a good film......
Add a Review
-
blueeyedcherokee15 July 2000this is some of the worst, most cliched writing i've seen in a while...terrible direction and horrible lighting and photography, not to mention the stilted acting, with the exception of the maid and sam rockwell. poor sam rockwell puts in an energetic performance only to be destroyed by how badly the shots were set up adn the editing...oh my god! what a boring, terrible, cliched film...the first 2 minutes lets you know...WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!!! BORING! BORING! BORING!
-
geoffingeorgia27 November 2006The beginning of this was interesting, though we've see other "Ransom gone wrong" films before (Ransom, High and Low). But this quickly went south and never came back.
Sam Rockwell was good but both his dialogue and screen time seemed purposefully short. The "Ruby" character was played well enough for the viewer to buy her as genuinely crazed, though there is little pity felt for her once the full story is learned. The daughter stands out as one of the best performances in the VERY few lines she has, Also the maid was well played, and her dialogue important and tense without sounding phony or trite.
The biggest problems i felt were 2. Firstly that the main character was NOT a good person and this wasn't reinforced in a way that made you either despise him or empathize with him in spite of his shortcomings. The director clearly couldn't ably spend so much time focusing on the character's plight in trying to reclaim his duaghter from the kidnappers and still portray him as overall despicable.
The viewer is left feeling that even though he did something truly bad that no one really cares.
Secondly is that the last 20 minutes of the film are ABSOLUTELY, COMICALLY BAD. BAD BAD BAD!
The main character sinks into a despair (which wasn't explored well enough) and ends up in the ghetto buying drugs he's never tried and then ends up in the care of a truly crazy man. Here's the toss-up. I can't decide, myself, whether it was really bad writing or if they actually got a crazy subway guy to play the part of, well, himself.
I say this because most of the actual street crazies i've run into in my life (and i seem to attract them like a magnet) are loud, self interested and their craziness is usually completely boring. They seem to more often be stringing together words that make no sense together or railing diatribes about ideas which they themselves haven't fully thought out. Like they're randomly talking just to be noticed. Such is the character we see at the end of this film. It's SO BAD we can't decide whether to laugh out loud or just push eject.
I rented this one as a fan of Sam Rockwell's and wanted to see some earlier stuff. Whoever made this movie should NEVER BE ALLOWED TO USE A CAMERA AGAIN! Ever. No one wants to see what he's got to show, or hear what he thinks he's got to say.
It was like watching spiders with half their legs pulled off trying to escape a glass bowl.
That's all i have. -
crackerboy5 November 2004This is, hands down, one of the worst films I've attempted to watch in recent history. The story might have worked with better direction and a more competent cast, but...
Fortunately, Sam Rockwell managed to get past this film and move on to more impressive efforts.
Amber Kain is the acting equivalent of fingernails being dragged down a chalkboard. It's small wonder her filmography is what it is.
There are a great many fine, small budget films out there.
Skip this one. -
The films of this director have, for me, been hit or miss. Shepard is a consistently good director, with deep values and a great sense of sarcastic humor. The problem is with the scripts that he chooses or co-creates. But this film is by far his best, especially because of its fine performances. As always, Sam Rockwell is captivating and John Rubinstein delivers a solid performance. But the runaway star of the film is its unusual villain. Amber Kain is a fireball of raw genius. She is brilliantly disturbing in the role of "Ruby." It takes an actor of rare humility to commit to playing such an unlikable role. It takes an even more rare talent to make such an unlikable character sympathetic. Amber Kain scores on both counts, much like Angelina Jolie did as the character of "Lisa" in Girl, Interrupted. Amber Kain is a movie star in the making that audiences will love to hate. The only question now is: can she play nice?
-
dshore-128 August 2006Glad his father wasn't alive to see it. A trashy, paperback novel. I watched this film because it was the only thing available during an attack of insomnia. John used to be a super actor.
I prefer to be succinct, but the damn guidelines of this site insist that I have at least 10 lines of text.
The writer before me described the film as being 'intense'. I found the film to be intensely boring and trivial.
No merit whatsoever, the only good actor was the child.
The only films ABC airs in the early morning are the ones no one wants to rent from Netflix or BlockBuster. I am being forced to comment about the film and it is difficult to continue on a negative note.
I do not recommend this film. -
bloody-314 October 2019Shot in 18 days on a budget of $52 000 this is guerrilla film making at its best. After a businessman's daughter is kidnapped those who took the child deliberately toy with him leading to his interaction with various types of people he would normally not have anything to do with. Seeing how the other half lives in overdrive. Includes footage of a pre Giuliani Times Square with all the various weird and wonderful characters that inhabited this domain. Well acted by the entire cast. The scenes with the taxi driver deserve an Academy Award for realism. The sleazy bartender/drug dealer is played by the director's father. The director optioned the script to other movie makers including those who filmed the similar Ransom but ended up doing it himself. Mercy was released first and I think it is the better of the two.
-
Scummmy30 January 2006No, wait - it IS a train wreck. Did ANYBODY view this thing before releasing it? Some of the acting in this is worse than I've seen in High School productions, believe me!
The only reason to keep watching is to see if it ever gets better, or how much worse the direction / dialog / acting (using that term loosely here) can get. Was hoping for some sort of redemption, but don't waste your time like I did.
Truly - this was a waste of film or whatever they shot it on. Sam Rockwell should hire someone to burn the masters.
It's 90 minutes I'll never get back. -
TheRedComa20 July 2005This is a movie about a father who is searching for his kidnapped daughter in New York City. First off, I would like to say that the pacing of this movie is incredible. Nothing is too drawn out, nor does it speed up towards the end and wrap everything up in 15 minutes. There is definitely a lot of tension in this movie, I definitely felt it during a few scenes.
This is one of those movies where the story moves between "good guy, bad guy" in terms of John Rubenstein's character. He is introduced as a somewhat snobby lawyer who makes sure he gets what he wants. That quickly changes once he finds out his daughter is missing. From then on, he is depicted as a determined father, who will stop at nothing to get his daughter back. Some scenes even show that his determination somehow ties into his dark past, thinking that he is a powerful person who can have his way if he feels like it, ignoring the risk and danger that may be involved. Yes, there is definitely some great character work in this movie.
I would also like to mention that it is almost ironic that Rick Gomez appears in this movie. He is, of course, the angry man who wants to use the payphone (If you've seen the movie, you will know who I am talking about.) I mention Rick because he and Sam Rockwell look unbelievably alike, so just so you don't get confused, if you think you see one of the kidnappers waiting to use the pay phone, that's not actually Sam Rockwell, it's Rick Gomez. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Ruby's character is also brilliantly developed. Ruby was once a sweet, yet somewhat obsessive teenager, now grown into a twisted kidnapper, seeking revenge for reasons unknown until much later on in the movie. Her shining scene, in my opinion, is when she begins to loose her grip on her own sanity as she is slowly engulfed in her own anger and hatred for the Father, and we as the audience are left with more questions than answers. What in the world could make this young woman so angry, so vengeful, that she would risk everything to commit a crime such as this? The very ending (the elevator scene, I won't say any more) is what could make or break the movie. It is a decision the Father makes, and the viewer is left to agree or disagree with his choice. Would it be his turn to seek revenge, or will he just file it away as another dark spot in his past? If you want to find out, you should see the movie, and I recommend it as a great rental for a rainy Saturday evening. Definitely a popcorn movie as well! -
Juliet Gabriella Kaleigh10 March 2000I first saw this movie in 1997, and I can't help but to watch it every time it runs. This is grand movie. It did not take a whole lotta money to make such an amazing film, either! Amber Kain who played Ruby, is brilliant, she's beautiful, and she has so much talent. It is such a shame that she does not get many roles. Amber, you made "Mercy" the smashing film that it is!
-
grahamclarke14 March 2004A film maker who succeeds in holding our attention firmly for the entire length of his movie and causing us to empathize with the characters, is doing something right. If he's done this on a clearly minuscule budget, all the more credit is deserved..
Richard Shepherd's does all this with "Mercy". While it's not unlike many other kidnap dramas, it's executed with a sure hand and nicely played by all. John Rubinstein, not usually a lead actor, does very well in the part.
Sam Rockwell is (yet again!) an incompetent small time criminal and all the other supporting parts are well portrayed.
While extremely competent, ultimately there is not enough here to get too excited about, but Shepherd is a writer/director to watch out for. -
Uthman5 August 1999MERCY starts off by lulling the viewer into believing he is watching a low-budget exploitative crime thriller, but unexpectedly the film turns into an incisive character study. The cast, especially John Rubinstein, Amber Kain, and Sam Rockwell, does a great job throughout. The only weak point is a very distracting, gratuitous scene in which the Rubinstein character meets a psychotic arms merchant, but this interruption is brief, and the plot soon picks up and builds to a satisfying climax.
This is the first Richard Shepard movie I have seen, and I plan to view more of his work as the opportunity presents.