Parents' Guide to Mercy Road

With a central lead who's effectively trapped in his car as he drives, comparisons between this Australian thriller and the well-regarded Locke are inevitable. However, Mercy Road is a much pulpier and more disjointed affair than Steven Knight's considered, slow burning drama. Here we join sweat-soaked deadbeat dad Tom, played by a frantic Bracey, as the story drip feeds us clues about why his 12-year-old daughter is missing. Unfortunately it quickly becomes apparent that three screenwriters couldn't turn this into a compelling story, or one that even makes much sense. Most of the dialogue is between Tom and the mysterious "Associate," played by a disembodied Toby Jones, doing his best to inject some urgency and mystery into a script with so little to say that it resorts to withholding any pertinent information about pretty much anything. Jones and Bracey could be forgiven for having to convince themselves, let alone the audience, that what we're watching is worth their time as well as ours. There is a resolution of sorts, eventually, but not before some well-worn mental health cliches have been dusted off to avoid the writers having to fashion anything resembling interconnected plot points. As road movies go, Mercy Road is the cinematic equivalent of a busted GPS.