How far would a father be willing to go to save his child?
Written by John Curren, Jesse Heffring, and Christopher Lee Pelletier, and directed by Curren, the film is almost a one location, one man show as it takes place almost entirely in a truck with the driver interacting with people on the phone, a rare few who we get to see on video calls, and one in person. The film makes the most of this setting and creates tension and worry about what is happening here. The film starts with an unclear premise and as the driver learns new things and speaks to new people while driving under direction of a mysterious voice on the phone, we, the viewers, learn more about the situation, but it always feels like something is missing and that’s a good thing here. The film is written and directed quite precisely, creating a film that builds tension throughout and leads to an ending that the viewer has stopped thinking about what it might be to focus on the current events, leading to a surprise ending.
The cast here is mostly just one man on screen and disembodied voices on the phone and a few others. The lead here is played by Luke Bracey who shows stress, anger, fear, and a slew of other emotions here. His performance is solid and really drives the film, being exactly what the film needs from him. The main voice on the phone is Huw Higginson and he does fantastic work without ever being seen. As for top billed Toby Jones, he gets a few moments on screen and manages to make an impact which is easy to skip due to his very few minutes on screen and how he seems to be just a roadside glitch. Then we get Alex Malone on video calls and Susie Porter on the phone as well as Martha Kate Morgan who all do well here. The cast as a whole is more than solid and works fantastically well with the script and story at hand.
The film here makes the most of the one location with cinematography by Ross Giardina uses the inside of the truck, the streetlights, dashboard lights, phone light, etc to great effect to create an atmosphere of stress and give lead Luke Bracey a very worried and desperate look. The way the cinematography frames the inside of the truck and the lead works incredibly well for the story here. The editing moves these images at a good pace and lingers when the story needs to, creating a rhythm and an anxiety to the story.
Mercy Road is a thriller with plenty of stress, anxiety, tension, and just a plethora of emotions for the lead and the viewer. The film is solid on all fronts, makes the most of minimal locations and cast, and really builds towards its end in a way that brings the viewer along and makes them forget they are about to get an ending at any time soon which is interesting and perhaps predictable to some, but the film does so well building itself up that it’s hard to spend too much time thinking of what might be coming. The film is a thriller and for once, recently, that is the most accurate description of the story at hand.