Mercury Rising

source: Mercury Rising

Moviecut—Mercury Rising

Bruce Willis should have known better than to have appeared in this one-dimensional piece of anti-"military industrial complex" propaganda. The plot, such as it is, makes no rational sense. This secretive government organisation creates a super code and then puts it in a puzzle book just to see if someone could crack it? That makes a lot of sense. Then a boy break this code and instead of thinking "the code's not that good then", they track him down and murder his family in cold blood? Why was this junk ever made? One really has to be a self-hating and paranoid far-leftist of Michael Moore proportions to find this plausible. It requires the belief that secret military forces are almost demoniacally evil to hunt down a 9 year old autistic kid. In reality, when the phone number to CONAD was accidentally published (see the FAQ) and a kid rang up to speak to Santa, the colonel in charge responded by setting up a special line for kids to ring, not you may note, hunting and gunning them down. That's how the American military really behaves (and I'm not an American, btw, I simply wish to see fair representation).

There are two great acting performances in this film. Bruce Willis plays Art Jeffries, an FBI agent with attitude. Miko Hughes plays Simon Lynch, an autistic savant with a gift for codebreaking. Both are believable but Miko Hughes is astonishing – one of the best ever screen performances by a child. The scenes between the pair of them are really touching and you can believe that Willis really likes kids. Perhaps he does. The US government's pursuit of Lynch in this film may at first appear overly far-fetched and scaremongering. Then you remember the US attitude towards the British savant, Gary McKinnon, who was accused of perpetrating the biggest military computer hack of all time by hacking into 97 US military and NASA computers in 2002. Well, they didn't kill his mum and dad, and hunt him like an animal. But after 10 years of attempted extradition, and speculation of a 70-year jail term, maybe this story is just an exaggeration of reality, and not quite as ridiculous as some commentators have suggested. It's not really a downside but if you come to this film expecting a shoot-em-up action movie, you may be disappointed. It's much more than that and consequently slower – it's a touching drama with action scenes, and so we can forgive, just about, the pace through the middle of the film. The writing is actually very good and Pearson, Konner and Rosenthal all deserve credit. I did find the score a bit distracting. Sort of 'too big' and too 'James Bond' for the film. Scenes without music were better. Though the music being played at the club Jeffries visits was really good and I would have liked to have heard more of Koko Taylor (now no longer with us) belting out some blues. I was finding it difficult to see where this film was going. When Wills is with a kid, like in 16 blocks or Die Hard 4, you expect a visible end point, and there wasn't one. There was a sense of going around in circles. Until the last 5 minutes. Ultimately that cost it a couple of stars and the score lost another one. So seven out of ten for this.

Mercury Rising is far from a masterpiece, the ending is choppy and the script has its weak spots. But it was the plot that was the main problem, despite its intriguing idea it is not only very thin and routine but some of it doesn't always make sense. However, the cinematography and editing are great, and there are enough tension and thrills to make up for the heavily flawed plot-line. The film is well-directed too, and the music has atmosphere while not being intrusive. The acting is fine, Bruce Willis is good in his role and his chemistry with Hughes feels natural, and Alec Baldwin is very chilling and detestable, but it is Miko Hughes who is excellent as the autistic child who carries the movie (being autistic myself I could relate to him). Overall, flawed but a decent film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Just finished watching this movie with my two twelve year old nephews. None of us liked this movie. I like both Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin, but they both were wasted in this highly unplausible movie. Frankly I could not believe any of the plot turns or character motivations in this movie. Nothing made sense! Alec Baldwin is willing to kill 10+ Americans in order to protect the identities of American agents overseas. Bruce Willis is willing to defy all his superiors and take on the big, bad government to protect a kid he just met (o.k. you got me--he is anti-establishment in all his movies). A random woman in a coffee shop is willing to jeopardize her life to help Bruce Willis protect the kid. This definitely is not a thinking person's action film. As standard action fare the movie is pretty stale. Nothing new or original to report in terms of fights, chases, gun battles or explosions. Stay away from this flick. If you like Bruce Willis, rent the Die Hard series. If you like Alec Baldwin, rent Hunt for Red October.

This is an awesome thriller!, that's very underrated, with a gripping plot and 2 amazing performances from Bruce Willis and Miko Hughes!.All the characters are awesome!, and the story is excellent!, plus Bruce Willis and Miko Hughes are simply amazing in this!. Lindsey Ginter is the real main villain in my opinion as Alec Baldwin was absolutely terrible and barely to be seen!, plus i thought Willis gave one of his best performances here!. Miko Hughes is incredibly convincing as the Autustic kid in my opinion, and i feel this is treated very unfairly by critics and movie fans alike!, plus i loved the ending it was very cute and made me smile!. Willis and Miko Hughes had wonderful chemistry together, and i thought the opening was very memorable!, plus the finale is very exciting!.The helicopter sequence was great, and i still can't get over Baldwin's incredibly bland and terrible performance!, plus it's quite original and creative as well!. I expected this to be a great film and that's exactly what i got it's an awesome thriller, that's very underrated, with a gripping plot and 2 amazing performances from Bruce Willis and Miko Hughes and i say it's a must see!. The Direction is great!. Harold Becker does a great! job here, with awesome camera, work fantastic angles, and keeping the film at a very fast pace!. The Acting is amazing!. Bruce Willis is amazing as always and is amazing here, he is incredibly likable, gives one of his best performances (In acting too),had wonderful chemistry with Miko Hughes, is extremely charismatic, had a very cool character, had some awesome emotional scenes, and was just amazing overall!, no way in hell was he on auto pilot! (Willis Rules!!!!!!). Miko Hughes is also amazing here, he is incredibly convincing as the autistic kid, is extremely likable, is rather creepy at times, had wonderful chemistry with Willis, is one talented young actor, had an extremely cool character, and just impressed the hell out of me he was amazing! (Miko Rules!!). Alec Baldwin is god awful here, good god was he ever boring, not only that he was barely on screen!, and he's supposed to be the main villain??, give me a break he's a total joke!. Lindsey Ginter is the real villain in this!, in my opinion he was very menacing, and did an excellent job!. Kim Dickens is very cute and did what she had to do well as Stacie i liked her lots. Chi McBride is good with what he had to do, i rather liked him. Rest of the cast do fine. Overall a must see!. **** out of 5

Okay, it's a Bruce Willis vehicle. But after "Fifth Element," I had come to expect something more -- well, competent. It isn't giving anything away to tell you that this is yet another film in which the Eeeevil Government Spooks (they're always US Government, aren't they...?) have no ethical qualms about killing innocent citizens to protect their secrets. The secret in question is the USA's latest crypto method, and is endangered because a couple of idiots stuck it into a puzzle magazine to test it. Riiight. Simon (Miko Hughes), an autistic child, solves the puzzle. Apparently the writers don't understand the difference between "autistic" and "idiot savant." A subtle distinction, true, and made more difficult for Hollywood success-think by the stereotypes engendered by "Rain Man." -- yes, some autists can perform prodigies of calculation and so on, largely because of intense concentration. But they're not generally idiots, and there's essentially no chance that this kid would be the only person in the world to solve that particular puzzle, even granting it was soluble in the first place, which, given what is shown, seems quite unlikely. In the mind of NSA bigwig Kudrow (portrayed by Alec Baldwin), this justifies killing the kid. Well, maybe, though taking him into custody until they'd assessed the risk would seem more appropriate -- not to mention more in line with real security thinking; the kid may be useful. But it's not enough to kill him, the agent whacks his parents. First. Which gives the kid the ability to get away, right into the arms of Art (Bruce Willis) Jeffries. The rest of the movie is taken up with violence, escalating and recurring frequently enough to keep most viewers from noticing that there is essentially no story here.

Imagine one of the most sophisticated codes ever invented ending up inside a puzzle magazine. The creators figured, incorrectly, no one will be able to decipher it. Leave it to young, autistic, Simon Lynch, it only takes him a few moments to solve the enigma code. Simon makes the terrible mistake to call the number given in the magazine and immediately, the power behind its creation wants to have this person, or persons, eliminated! At the same time, Art Jeffries, an FBI agent, has run into trouble as he mishandles a hostage situation and is demoted. When he is sent to investigate the death of the Lynches, he discovers little Simon hidden in a secret hiding place. Art, who suddenly realizes there is something more than just a homicide, takes the boy with him and embarks into an adventure in trying to solve the mystery. Nothing tells him why is this seeming innocent boy the object of revenge that will take him all the way to a higher up in the government in solving the puzzle. Harold Becker directs this thriller that was based on the novel, "Simple Simon", written by Ryne Douglas Pearson. The screen adaptation was written by Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner. While the film doesn't break any new ground, it's never boring thanks to the direction of Mr. Becker. The best thing in the film is the easy chemistry between Bruce Willis and the child actor Miko Hughes, who is convincing as the autistic boy. Alec Baldwin turns up playing a heavy evil man. Chi McBride and Kim Dickens make some valuable contributions to the film

I'm not sure why this film is getting so much flack on here, i really just don't understand it, this is one of Bruce's better pictures and i've seen most of his work. The character development in this film is particularly good between Bruce and the little autistic boy. The plot was very good also, he has to protect this little boy from some super bad guys, led by Alec Baldwin's character the head of the NSA,, no such agency. There are some very funny moments in here, but the movie has lot's of action in it, filmed mostly in Chicago, but the important thing here i think is the relationship of Bruce's character and the little boy's character, the boys parents are murdered so "Art" has to take him into his care while he tries to protect him from the bad guys. Overall this is a very good picture, and deserves a higher rating on here.