Mercy

No, 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.

This 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.

A 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.

this 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!

MERCY 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.