Now, due to his irresponsibility in the eyes of his superiors he is being
pushed in every way imaginable to quit the FBI. From stakeouts with
rookies to investigating the disappearance of a young boy from an apparent
murder/suicide of his mother and father. Now Jeffries has the boy
Simon Lynch (Miko Hughes) and is in for a thrill packed ride in a struggle
to survive.
Simon seems simple enough. He is a 9-year-old autistic child that Jeffries can't quite figure out. Never before has Jeffries confronted someone like the autistic boy, and it takes him a little while to understand the way that Simon has lived his life to this point. Jeffries doesn't even know why people are chasing this struggling youngster but his gut feeling tells him he must keep Simon safe.
What Jeffries doesn't understand is that
Simon's autism has allowed him a special gift when it comes to deciphering
puzzles. The government has placed its most secret code in a simple
children's puzzle book and Simon has found the answer. No sophisticated
computers, no ultra-expensive programs, nothing but the most powerful computer
known to man....the human brain. In this case that brain lies inside
an autistic child, and the government mainly Nicholas Kudrow (Alec Baldwin)
will do anything to make sure that Simon does not fall into the wrong hands.
Kudrow has simply made a judgment call, he doesn't mind getting rid of
Simon and Jeffries to save his multi-billion dollar code. The only
question that remains is that will Jeffries be able to protect Simon, or
will Kudrow find a way to protect his code.
Bruce Willis does his best to carry this
film, but he needs help for it to be a huge success. Unfortunately
for some unknown reason they named the film Mercury Rising, a name
that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. 
Other
critics will undoubtedly rip this film, it does have a lot of holes.
One thing though, The Common Guy (Me) is not most people. I like
Bruce Willis, let me get that out of the way, and I like this genre of
movie. Sure it could have been a whole lot better, but this film
kept things moving at a rather brisk pace. Willis is his typical
self as he lets a couple of wisecracks per usual and gives his best in
a film that is a shell of those that let him fly to the forefront.
Alec Baldwin on the other hand seems quite cold and unsure of his role.
Baldwin's time on screen just doesn't seem to flow real well and it could
either be the result of his acting or the screenplay, which one I just
don't know. Miko Hughes is good in his role as the autistic Simon,
a role similar to a child version of Rainman.
I really wanted to like this film, part of that may be reflected in the grade that I gave to it, but unfortunately it was just too disjointed in parts to warrant a better grade. It is a decent film however that won't leave you too disappointed. Just don't go into it expecting to see Die Hard. I can't wait to see Willis' next effort, but in the meantime this was not a bad filler.
Grade: B-
Parents
Guide: R rated Mercury Rising is made such mainly
for two reasons. At time the language can be a little strong, especially
considering that a "child" is one of the main players in the film.
But the main reason that the film gets an "R" rating is simply for the
violence factor just as in films like Air Force One. Some
of the killings in this film, though an integral part of the plot, are
a little vicious/gruesome. Point blank firings into a person's head
and exciting chases just outside of the range of gunfire are prevalent
in this film. And the ending has a variety of potentially offensive
violence. This film is similar to Air Force One and is not
for the squeamish youngsters. You may want to be discriminating especially
with younger viewers.