Diana Tuova Spotlight on Film Aug 9, 2024 2.5/5

The Mercy cannot keep itself afloat and never quite manages to raise its sails up, portraying a very predictable (to the point of boring) voyage, with an almost unconvincing and foolish “hero”-character at its centre.

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Yasser Medina Cinefilia Jun 27, 2020 7/10

This biographical drama is simple, restrained, without much pretense of greatness, but the story it exhibits conveys the sense of tragedy that haunts the protagonist. [Full review in Spanish]

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Simon Reynolds Den of Geek Aug 7, 2019 4/5

What's great about The Mercy is how it manages to surprise, both in the story it's telling and how Marsh gradually shifts the tone.

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Víctor López G. Espinof Jul 11, 2019 2/5

In spite of the hidden quality flashes among their boring 101 minutes, it is the routine that ends up ruining the film.[Full Review in Spanish]

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Louise Burrell One Room With A View Feb 26, 2019 4/5

What starts off as sweet and entertaining shifts rapidly into a film full of courage and love. The Mercy is Firth at his very best: understated, vulnerable and very, very British.

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M. Faust The Public (Buffalo) Dec 14, 2018

If you're tempted to see this well-acted but dour drama, you might best be advised to read up on Crowhurst first: you still may not like it, but at least you'll better be able to appreciate the kind of movie that director James Marsh has made.

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Lauren Humphries-Brooks CC2K Dec 8, 2018

The Mercy is a limited pleasure, unfortunately, given the cast, the subject, and the director. It's trying to be three different films in three different genres, all of them attempting to follow the same narrative at the same time.

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Hunter Lanier Film Threat Dec 6, 2018 6/10

Marsh is content with telling Crowhurst's story in the most mundane way possible, but because it's such a good story with an inherently involving character at the center of it, the approach still works on the most basic of levels.

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Rob Thomas Capital Times (Madison, WI) Dec 6, 2018 3/4

This is really a one-man show for Firth, as we spend long stretches with him on the boat, watching his stiff-upper-lip British façade splinter and crumble in the face of harsh weather, mounting mechanical problems and punishing loneliness.

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Sarah Cartland Caution Spoilers Dec 6, 2018 4/5

A poignant and at times jaw-dropping movie. Firth is tremendous as Crowhurst -- it's an unflinching portrayal that's sympathetic but utterly realistic. Weisz is good though her character has little to do beyond keeping the home fires burning.

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Jennie Kermode Eye for Film Dec 3, 2018 3.5/5

This is a tale that could have been told very effectively as a one-hander. Instead, Marsh balances his time between the boat and dear old Blighty, where the sponsors are getting excited and a press agent is trying to drum up stories at every opportunity.

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Robert Kojder Flickering Myth Dec 2, 2018 3/5

A surface level analysis of what failure and dishonor can do to one's ambitions

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Todd Jorgenson Cinemalogue Dec 1, 2018

Firth's performance and some second-half twists make it worthwhile.

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Rex Reed Observer Nov 30, 2018 2/4

It all seems doomed from the start-and never in the same throat-gripping class with such fateful horrors-at-sea epics as Adrift or Robert Redford's All is Lost.

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Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com Nov 30, 2018 3/5

A startling and tragic example of modern man's desperation and hubris, The Mercy is an impassive portrait of a fascinating catastrophe.

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Michael Ordoña Common Sense Media Nov 30, 2018 2/5

True-life sailing misadventure is mild in every way.

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Peter Sobczynski RogerEbert.com Nov 30, 2018 2/4

The film has been made with plenty of sincerity and no small amount of effort, but with no idea of what it wants to say.

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Brian Orndorf Blu-ray.com Nov 29, 2018 B+

"The Mercy" does make an impression, through thespian accomplishment and Donald's unusual crisis of despair.

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Joey Magidson The Hollywood News Nov 29, 2018 2.5/4

Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz very nearly drag this one over the finish line.

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Travis Hopson Punch Drunk Critics Nov 29, 2018 3.5/5

Marsh captures the majestic beauty of the sea, capturing that allure which has tempted millions of men to hear the call just as Donald did.

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