The No. 1 movie at the box office, “Mercy,” arrived on a weekend where the weather showed little in the way of mercy to much of the country.

Hope you’re all safe out there.

As if the weather weren’t enough of a disadvantage, “Mercy” is saddled with one of the stupidest cinematic premises I’ve ever seen. It takes place in a dystopian future where murder trials take the form of “mercy trials,” suspects being strapped unsupervised to a chair in a tech-filled — but otherwise empty — room and given 90 minutes to prove their innocence to an AI judge. If they can’t establish a reasonable doubt within the time limit, they’re executed on the spot.

To give the suspects a fighting chance, tech is at their disposal to examine the crime scene, check security cameras, call witnesses, look at evidence like strangers’ personal financial records, and so on — all in the name of making the system think that they........

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