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Mercury Rising

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Wikipedia article




'Mercury Rising' is a 1998 American action thriller 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', which was the working title of the film. Willis plays Art Jeffries, an undercover FBI agent who protects a nine-year-old autistic boy, Simon Lynch (played by Miko Hughes), who is targeted by government assassins after he cracks a top secret government code.

The film is the first of two collaborations between Willis and Baldwin, the second film being 'Motherless Brooklyn'.

The film was released on April 3, 1998. It received mostly negative reviews and grossed $93 million at the box office.

Plot





During a bank robbery hostage situation undercover FBI agent Art Jeffries attempts unsuccessfully to negotiate for more time. The FBI storms the bank killing the robbers and in the aftermath, Art strikes the bureaucratic agent in charge, leading to his demotion to a desk job.

A nine-year-old autistic boy, 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. He 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 deployed by Kudrow to terminate the boy and his parents, Martin and Jenny.

Posing as a police detective, Burrell gains entry to the Lynch household and murders both Simon's mother and father with a silenced pistol. Searching the house, he is unable to find Simon and hears the 911 operator trying to speak with Martin who was able to call 911 before dying. Burrell stages a murder-suicide and is driven away from the house by Shayes.

Art 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. A nurse explains to Art that autism doesn't mean "nothing gets through", it means "'everything' gets through", so he can get frightened or confused, especially by others' emotions, and probably can't be questioned. Burrell impersonates a doctor and makes another attempt on Simon's life. The timely arrival of Art saves Simon, who sees through Burrells facade and flees the premises with Simon. Later, while on a train, Simon shows Art his Picture Exchange Communication System cards with photos of his family. Art, understanding, adds one writing "Art is a friend." Burrells partner, Shayes, tries to kill Simon, but Art intervenes. He struggles with the killer, 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. However, fellow agent and friend Tommy Jordan doesn't believe the story. Art borrows Jordan's car and takes Simon back to his house. Simon again calls the telephone number written into the code and Art is able to talk to Crandell and Pedranski. Crandell arranges a meeting at the Wrigley Building by the next morning. Art goes to the meeting, leaving Simon under the care of a woman in a coffee shop, Stacey Siebring. Art and Crendell meet and Crandell tells Art about Mercury and Kudrow, but is shot dead by Burrell before he can reveal everything.

Art returns to the coffee shop, and finds that Stacey and Simon have formed a friendship. The guys then leave, but narrowly escape another attack before meeting with Jordan who is now convinced after learning of the incident. Later, Art and Simon go to Siebrings house, asking if they can stay there. She reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile, Pedranski, having learned Crandell's fate, also tries to reveal Kudrow's unlawful actions by writing letters on a typewriter: one to Art and a carbon copy for the Senate Oversight Committee, but Burrell tracks Pedranski down and murders him as well, confiscating the letters. However, the assassin overlooks Pedranski's carbon copies, which his girlfriend, NSA analyst Emily Lang, takes to the FBI. Jordan discreetly arranges for her to meet with Art to show them the carbon copies; covered in Pedranskis fingerprints, they become crucial evidence. Art then goes to Kudrows home during his birthday party, and demands that Kudrow announce on national TV that the Mercury Encryption Project is a failure.

Jordan, under Art's suggestion, arranges for Simon to go into the Witness Protection Program. After the meeting, the friends discusses the Witness Protection meeting by phone, unaware their conversation is being monitored by Kudrow. Stacey and Simon leave her house for the pick-up point, while Jordan heads for the FBI Director's Office. There, Kudrow dissuades Lomax, the FBI Special Agent in Charge, by revealing the fact that Jordan forged the witness protection documents.

After Kudrow leaves with him being in charge for the Witness Protection, Tommy shows the carbon paper evidence to Lomax and confirms that the fingerprint markings on it were Pedranski's, now fully validating the evidence against Kudrow. Art, with Jordan and an FBI task force's help, sets a trap at the meeting spot. Armed with an M16 rifle, Burrell fires at the FBI squad who arrives to apprehend Kudrow, resulting in a shootout with Jordan protecting Stacey. Simon retrieves Art's gun, and the battle ends with Burrell being slashed to death by glass shards and Kudrow being shot by Art and falling to his death.

Art and Siebring later visit Simon (now living with foster parents) at his school. Simon embraces the FBI agent as a welcome friend, having finally accepted him as a person he trusts.

Cast



Production



Development

Barry Sonnenfeld was initially slated to direct the film, but due to commitments to 'Men in Black' dropped out and was replaced with Harold Becker.

Casting

Prior to Bruce Willis being cast, Nicolas Cage and George Clooney were also considered for the lead.

Release



Home media

'Mercury Rising' was released for VHS and DVD on September 15, 1998. The Collector's Edition and DTS versions for DVD were released in 1999. A Blu-ray with Multi-Format was released on September 14, 2010, and the Double Feature with the film and 'The Jackal' was also released for Blu-ray on March 22, 2011.

Reception



Box office

The film earned $10,104,715 in its opening weekend in 2,386 theaters. Altogether, the film grossed $32,935,289 in the United States and $60,172,000 internationally for a total of $93,107,289.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 21% based on reviews from 57 critics with an average rating of 4.37/10. The 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." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

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."[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980403/REVIEWS/804030303/1023 'Mercury Rising' :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews] 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."[http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/m/mercury.html Mercury Rising - A Film Review by James Berardinelli]

Accolades

Bruce Willis received the 1999 Golden Raspberry Award as Worst Actor for his performance (as well as for 'Armageddon' and 'The Siege').

Miko Hughes won the category of 'Best Performance in a Feature FilmLeading Young Actor' at the 1999 Young Artist Awards for his portrayal of Simon.

See also



* Mental calculators in fiction

* RSA Secret-Key Challenge

References




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