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Mercury Rising

Play trailer Poster for Mercury Rising R Released Apr 3, 1998 1h 52m Mystery & Thriller Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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21% Tomatometer 57 Reviews 40% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
"Mercury Rising" stars Bruce Willis as Art Jeffries, a renegade FBI agent who combats ruthless federal agents to protect Simon (Miko Hughes), a 9-year-old autistic boy who has cracked the government's new unbreakable code. He can read MERCURY, the most advanced encryption code yet created, as easily as other kids read English. This ability renders the new billion-dollar secret code vulnerable, especially if enemies of the United States should learn of Simon's abilities and capture him.
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Mercury Rising

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Critics Consensus

Mercury Rising lays the action on thick, but can never find a dramatic pulse to keep viewers -- or Bruce Willis -- engaged with its maudlin story.

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Critics Reviews

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Keith Phipps AV Club There's such a lack of vision behind Mercury Rising that the title could have it going in either direction and it would still end up in the same familiar place. Apr 23, 2020 Full Review Lisa Alspector Chicago Reader The actors' serious faces are out of place in this hopelessly silly action conspiracy. Apr 21, 2020 Full Review Mark Caro Chicago Tribune Baldwin's Kudrow is a one-dimensional, humorless variation on his corporate tyrant in Glengarry Glen Ross. Apr 21, 2020 Full Review Clarín Staff Clarín Offers the viewer a pleasant surprise. [Full review in Spanish] Apr 23, 2020 Full Review Margaret Pomeranz At the Movies (Australia) I must admit I was underwhelmed by Mercury Rising - in fact the temperature actually sank. Rated: 2/5 Apr 23, 2020 Full Review Total Film Staff Total Film This should never have been made. Avoid it and pretend it wasn't. Rated: 1/5 Apr 21, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jerod S Mercury Rising is full of talent, but gets sludgy after the first 20 minutes. the 90s treatment of autism is also something to note. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 10/20/24 Full Review Anthony C Well, the soaring John Barry soundtrack makes up for a lot. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/13/24 Full Review Audience Member Couldn’t care less about anyone else’s opinion of this film I will love it forever and no one can change that Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/05/24 Full Review Cinephemeride a little thriller not as bad as we read it. Certainly, not the best Bruce Willis film but it still holds up. Nothing exceptional but acceptable Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/02/23 Full Review Megan J I don't know what this movie was missing but it was definitely missing something. I have two main points: First, I appreciated the action shots and the script and the idea could've been amazing. I do not want to criticise too harshly, I know very few people who write these reviews, myself included, could do any better. However, what I said slightly earlier is exactly what I mean. It was missing something. It could be the suspense, it could be the lack of understanding towards certain characters (in my own point of view) or it could just be something small and mostly inconsequential that I personally missed, whatever it was, it wasn't there. Secondly, the portrayal of the autistic boy in this film slightly bothered me. I don't know how old this boy is exactly but his role shows him as more of a nuisance than the important character I thought he should be. The actual character is simply a host for the film to use the fact that the boy is autistic to provide a new way for the actual main character (Bruce Willis) to overcome new obstacles that (at the time of this being released) were not much explored. I think the portrayal could've been more accurate or wholesome. It would be fine as ASD is a spectrum but the fact that 90% of mainstream media depicts autistic people in the same way, like this film does, does not help its case at all. I personally did not enjoy the film but I do appreciate good choreography, cinematography and acting and like all movies with any action, I loved the high-action or combat scenes. I do adore a well made fight or chase scene in any film. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/23/23 Full Review Ola G A nine-year-old boy with autism, Simon Lynch, is given a sophisticated puzzle book by his teacher. Simon quickly solves a particular puzzle and phones a number encoded in the solution. This call reaches two National Security Agency cryptographers, Dean Crandell and Leo Pedranski, who created the new cypher Simon has cracked. Pedranski and Crandell report the situation to their boss, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Kudrow (Alec Baldwin), who severely rebukes the pair for their unauthorized actions, describing Simon and his abilities as a national security threat. Two assassins, Peter Burrell and Shayes, are sent by Kudrow to terminate the boy and his parents, Martin and Jenny. Posing as a police detective, Burrell murders both Simon's mother and father, but is unable to find Simon. FBI agent Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis), who was recently demoted to a desk job after an unsuccessful negotiation during a bank robbery hostage situation, is sent to investigate and finds Simon in a hidden crawl space in his bedroom closet. Simon is taken to a protection ward at the hospital, where a nurse explains to Art about Simon's autism, and probably can't be questioned. Burrell impersonates a doctor and makes another attempt on Simon's life. Art saves Simon and flees the premises, and tries unsuccessfully to convince Simon that he is a friend instead of a stranger. Later, while on a train, Burrell's partner, Shayes, tries to kill Simon, but Art intervenes, eventually managing to knock him off the train and onto the tracks just before another locomotive passes, running Shayes over and instantly killing him. The NSA, under Kudrow's direction, frames Art as the kidnapper of Simon... Rotten Tomatoes consensus states: "Mercury Rising lays the action on thick, but can never find a dramatic pulse to keep viewers -- or Bruce Willis -- engaged with its maudlin story." Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, writing: "Mercury Rising is about the most sophisticated cryptographic system known to man, and about characters considerably denser than anyone in the audience. Sitting in the dark, our minds idly playing with the plot, we figure out what they should do, how they should do it, and why they should do it, while the characters on the screen strain helplessly against the requirements of the formula." James Berardinelli rated it one and a half out of four stars, saying: "The script for Mercury Rising is exceptionally tiresome and hard-to-swallow. ... Once again, certain standby plot elements -- the high-level government conspiracy and the maverick law enforcement agent -- are recycled, and not to good effect. While Bruce Willis can play the action hero as well as anyone in Hollywood, this particular outing leaves him marooned in situations that are characterized by too little tension and too much nonsense." (via Wikipedia) This Bruce Willis classic actioneer/thriller carries something different as the main storyline is about an autistic boy and his way of seeing things no one else does and the trouble he ends up in due to his autism. There´s an emotional touchpoint that does come through in this film despite "Mercury Rising" being a very standard Bruce Willis action/thriller movie. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Mercury Rising

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Cast & Crew

Darkman 83% 59% Darkman Watchlist Shadow Conspiracy 7% 20% Shadow Conspiracy Watchlist Enemy of the State 71% 78% Enemy of the State Watchlist TRAILER for Enemy of the State The Jackal 24% 51% The Jackal Watchlist The Peacemaker 46% 39% The Peacemaker Watchlist TRAILER for The Peacemaker Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis "Mercury Rising" stars Bruce Willis as Art Jeffries, a renegade FBI agent who combats ruthless federal agents to protect Simon (Miko Hughes), a 9-year-old autistic boy who has cracked the government's new unbreakable code. He can read MERCURY, the most advanced encryption code yet created, as easily as other kids read English. This ability renders the new billion-dollar secret code vulnerable, especially if enemies of the United States should learn of Simon's abilities and capture him.
Director
Harold Becker
Producer
Brian Grazer, Karen Kehela Sherwood
Screenwriter
Ryne Douglas Pearson, Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Imagine Entertainment, Universal Pictures
Rating
R (Violence|Language)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 3, 1998, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 18, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$32.9M
Runtime
1h 52m
Sound Mix
Dolby SR, DTS, Dolby Stereo, Surround, SDDS, Dolby A, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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