Mercury Rising - DTS

Starring:Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Miko Hughes, Chi McBride, Kim Dickens, Robert Stanton (II), Bodhi Elfman, Carrie Preston, Lindsey Ginter, Peter Stormare, Kevin Conway, John Carroll Lynch, Kelley Hazen, John Doman, Richard Riehle, Chad Lindberg, Hank Harris, James MacDonald, Camryn Manheim, Jack Conley
Director: Harold Becker
Studio: Universal Studios
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Take off your thinking caps and toss 'em in a corner, 'cuz you won't need 'em when you're watching this deliriously dumb thriller from 1997. Bruce Willis stars as a demoted FBI agent who comes to the aid of an autistic boy whose mind holds a potentially deadly secret. It seems that by gazing on a puzzle magazine and making order out of a hidden system of numbers, the 9-year-old autistic boy (Miko Hughes) has accidentally deciphered a sophisticated top-secret government code. This makes him the prime target of the ruthless bureaucrat (Alec Baldwin, in one of his silliest roles), and Willis comes to the rescue. This formulaic thriller sets up this plot with a lot of entertaining urgency, but you can't give any thought to Mercury Rising or the whole movie collapses under the weight of its own illogic and nonsense. The redeeming values are the performances of Willis, young Hughes, and newcomer Kim Dickens as a woman who agrees (perhaps too easily, it seems) to aid Willis in his plot to outmaneuver the bad guys. Mercury Rising is not a waste of time compared to other formulaic thrillers, but its entertainment value depends on how much you enjoy being smarter than the movie. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

What ever happened to Kim Dickens?.......2006-07-23

Mercury Rising brings to the screen the story of an FBI agent who takes it upon himself to protect an orphaned autistic boy whom the NSA wants dead for having cracked a multi-million dollar government code.
What is important to note is that Alec Baldwin's words in the film do ring true when he says that America needs a secret code to protect her from espionage both from her foes as well as her allies! He is rightfully referring to a specific country in particular, small and yet extremely influential worldwide (especially within the USA), which is considered a close friend of the US and yet has repeatedly been caught spying on America. For some reason... the media always downplay the story whenever it surfaces. Hmmm...
Bruce Willis, Miko Hughes, Alec Baldwin, and the rest of the cast carry out their performances very well. Kim Dickens was delightful as Stacey; what ever happened to her?
The setting, the plot, and the dialogues are all wonderful!
As for the rating, it should have been PG-13.
In a nutshell, it's probably not a movie you would want to add to your collection, but it will surely provide for an evening's entertainment.

A very Good and Emotionally Charged Action Film.......2006-04-03

This is an action film with a lot of emotion behind it. It has a real heart felt story that questions plausibility and true credibility at times but it really hits home as it evokes genuine sentiment and feeling through a brutal world we now live in. This to date is the last great action film staring Bruce Willis. His performance of the dedicated civil servant doing what is right against all odds is admirable. His adversary Alec Baldwin stands for all that is wrong with a system that is supposed to protect our way of life and liberties while sacrificing the innocent trying to protect it at the enrichment of his own ego. At the center is a small autistic boy who supposedly can compromise Baldwin's plans who is being protected by FBI agent Willis who has fallen from grace. In simplest terms it is a film of right and goodness against greed and evil. On that level this film works. This film contains one of John Barry's last great scores as it gives credence to the story by bringing our most tearfully compassionate emotions to the surface while driving the narrative with an impassioned purpose. I like this film a lot I think because it takes the hardened tough good guy hero image and on an emotional level shows what drives him and what's really makes his heart tick.

good action yarn.......2006-01-03

Thoroughly enjoyable action flick that holds your attention throughout. One of favorite Brucey movies. The hitman is the most cold blooded assasin I've ever seen in a cop movie. To those claim "leave your brains at the door", its an action movie, its a hollywood movie, what do you expect for Christs sake ?

Mercury Rising (1998).......2006-01-01

Director: Harold Becker
Cast: Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Miko Hughes, Chi McBride, Kim Dickens, Robert Stanton, Bodhi Elfman, Carrie Preston, Lindsey Ginter, Peter Stormare, Kevin Conway, John Carroll Lynch.
Running Time: 108 minutes
Rated R for violence and language.

"Mercury Rising" begins as an innovative, interesting look at govermental intelligence and the difficulties of autism, but unfortunately becomes a psuedo-"Die Hard" meets "Enemy of the State" and flops under a deflted script, mediocre acting, and lifeless direction. FBI agent Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis) is washed out after confronting his superiors after an undercover job goes bad, while Simon Lynch (Miko Hughes) is an autistic child who loves puzzles. When he cracks a code that the Government put into a magazine to test it's strength he becomes a target and his parents are murdered by someone from the NSA. Jeffries is assigned to the case when the boy goes missing and easily finds him; however, Jeffries soon realizes that this is not a simple case and that both he and the boy are in great danger as NSA Colonel Kudrow (Alec Bladwin) tries to protect his code.

Despite having a career boost in the mid-1990's with the solid "12 Monkeys" in which he showed a nice range of depth, Bruce Willis proves that he an still do pretty lame and mindless films by signing on to do this. Willis looks like he is on autopilot - and Willis on autopilot is not a good thing. He mumbles his way through it and doesn't really convince aside from when being an action hero. Hughes is really good if a little annoying, but his abilities as a young actor are obviously evident in his efforts. Baldwin's performance is reminiscent of his role in "Glengary Glen Ross" here, talking with authority and down to his staff, but he is nowhere near as good. Ginter is menacing but not given enough time, Dickens is simply thrown into the film without thought and Peter Stormare makes a fleeting appearance. In fairness it isn't that the film is really bad, it's more that it is condescending to it's audience. The actual plot is interesting; "Enemy of The State" was good using the same sort of `all powerful Government conspiracy'; however, this film feels so lazy in every approach that it spoils a potentially good foundation by not playing to its strengths and thus exposing its weaknesses.

An underrated gem!.......2005-10-27

I really enjoyed this movie. I think this is one of Bruce's best films. This movie will grab your attention from the very beginning. The kid who played Simon, is a truly gifted child actor! He's very convincing in every movie role he plays! He was fantastic in Pet Sematery, and he was only about two years old in 1989! Don't listen to the bad reviews, this movie is great!

DVD:

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