Mercury Rising
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| Mercury Rising | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster |
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| Directed by | Harold Becker |
| Produced by | Brian Grazer Karen Kahela |
| Written by | Novel: Ryne Douglas Pearson Screenplay: Lawrence Konner Mark Rosenthal |
| Starring | Bruce Willis Alec Baldwin Miko Hughes |
| Music by | John Barry |
| Cinematography | Michael Seresin |
| Editing by | Peter Honess |
| Release date(s) | April 3, 1998 |
| Running time | Theatrical: 108 min. |
| Country | United States |
| IMDb profile | |
Mercury Rising is a 1998 action thriller feature film, starring Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin. Directed by Harold Becker, the movie is based on Ryne Douglas Pearson's 1996 novel; originally published as Simple Simon. Bruce Willis plays Art Jeffries, an undercover FBI agent who protects a nine-year-old autistic boy who is the target for assassins after cracking a top secret government code.
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[edit] Plot
A cryptographic code called "Mercury" was created by the National Security Agency, so complex that its creators believe no computer on earth can decipher it. Originally created during the Reagan Administration as a test to keep the United States' highest priority secrets under wraps, their assumption is revealed to be false when they receive a message from an autistic savant boy named Simon Lynch (Miko Hughes) who calls a telephone number written in the code, which was secretly published in a puzzle magazine by two of the creators to see if anyone could break it. Colonel Kudrow (Alec Baldwin), perceiving the boy's ability to decipher the code as a liability, seeks to silence Simon; he sends a hit man to murder Simon and his family.
After killing the boy's parents, the assassin searches the house, fails to find Simon, and leaves at the sound of approaching sirens. Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis) is an undercover FBI agent who protects Simon. He finds Simon hiding in a cache of his bedroom closet and takes the boy under his wing. Jeffries begins to realize the difficulty of protecting, let alone questioning Simon, because of his impaired social abilities as a result of his autism. The situation is further complicated by the fact that nobody at the FBI believes Simon is in any danger, and Jeffries is soon painted by the NSA as a kidnapper.
Meanwhile, Colonel Kudrow, upset by disagreement over how to handle the case, murders one of his employees when he starts to reveal the Mercury plans to Jeffries. The murdered employee's friend turns to Jeffries for help; although he is shortly murdered too, he manages to leave crucial evidence of Kudrow's crimes. Jeffries and the few allies he has set a trap in which Kudrow is killed and the boy saved. The film ends with Jeffries visiting Simon at his school, who embraces him as a welcome, having accepted him as a person of his trust.
[edit] Cast
- Bruce Willis as Art Jeffries
- Miko Hughes as Simon Lynch
- Alec Baldwin as Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Kudrow
- Chi McBride as FBI Agent Thomas 'Bizzi' Jordan
- Kim Dickens as Stacey Siebring
- John Carroll Lynch as Martin Lynch
- Kelley Hazen as Jenny Lynch
[edit] Reception
The film received mostly negative reviews from film critics, garnering an 18% approval rating at RottenTomatoes.[1]
Bruce Willis won the 1999 Golden Raspberry for his performance. Miko Hughes, however, won the category of Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor at the 1999 Young Artist Awards for his portrayal of Simon.
[edit] Box office
The film earned $10,104,715 in its opening weekend in 2,386 theaters. The film grossed $32,935,289 in the United States and $60,172,000 internationally for a total of $93,107,289.
[edit] References
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes. Mercury Rising. Retrieved on July 5, 2007.
