Mercury Rising | | Cast : | Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Miko Hughes | | Director : | Harold Becker | | Studio : | Universal Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | April 03, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | April 12, 2005 | | Language : | French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 29, 2005 | | Summary | A different bit of suspense | Content
 | I usually enjoy any Bruce Willis film, as he is indeed a very talented actor. I thought this was going to be just another action film, but the story line was a new twist and the movie holds your interest well. Alec Baldwin is a sincerely menacing meanie - cold hearted to the core. Only Alan Rickman could have played it crueler. A good addition to my collection, and I am sure I will repeat viewing from time to time. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 09, 2005 | | Summary | Crac'ked Code | Content
| As an action star, Bruce Willis has been in some really great genre films, like the fantastic Die Hard films, or the underrated 12 Monkeys, and of course 2005's adaptation of the comic book noir, Sin City. Unfortunately, for everyone of these examples, there's a few that don't quite measure up. Mercury Rising belongs in the category, despite Willis giving it all his got.
Art Jeffries (Willis) is one of the best undercover men in the FBI. When one of his missions goes awry Jeffries loses control and assaults the agent in charge who made a controversial decision that Jeffries knew was a mistake. After that, he realizes he is lucky to still a job and is not too surprised when he finds himself on stakeout assignments with new recruits. At the same time, miles away in Chicago, a nine year old little boy named Simon, (Miko Hughes) with a knack for solving complex puzzles is given a magazine filled with them by one of his teachers. In this magazine is a test by the developers of Mercury, a top-secret cryptography code that costs over $2 billion to develop, in order to see if there is anything to worry about. Simon, of course, is able to break the code. Soon the boy is told to call an 800 number to win a prize, which he does. This starts a trace of the call's s origin and thus the chase is on to hunt Simon down. At the head of the NSA department that developed Mercury is Lt. Colonel Nicholas Kudrow (Alec Baldwin), a cold blooded Fed who will even sacrifice his own people to preserve Mercury's status as an uncrackable code. Jefferies is soon asked to protect Simon at all costs.
Based on the Ryne Douglas Pearson' novel, (which I never read) `Simple Simon, the adapted script by Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal (Superman IV and Star Trek VI), has more than a few plot holes and moments where you'll be scratching your head. Not to mention contrivances of the genre itself that director Harold Becker, (who has done much better work in films like Sea Of Love and Malice), gleefully adopts, hoping nobody will notice. The action and suspense beats offer no real excitement. Only Willis (playing a part he knows so well) keeps you engaged enough to care. While Baldwiin just goes into full Malice mode here...
The DTS version of the DVD avoids extras in order to reserve valued disc bits for the improved sound mix. If you still want bonus material, you can still see some, by looking at the "Collector's Edition". Either way Mercury Rising disappoints. Only good to see if, as a Willis fan you've seen just about everyhing else he's ever done. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 21, 2005 | | Summary | Mercury Rising--What an ironic title for an autism movie! | Content
| As the mother of an autistic child, I was intrigued by this movie when I found it while channel surfing. I choose not to comment on the believability or likeability of the plot, but will say instead that the actor who played Simon, the young autistic boy, did an OUTSTANDING job. The writers, apparently, also did some research on the condition. The use of the cards Simon kept pinned to his belt was right on the money. Autistic children comprehend so much better visually, and through the printed word, than they do through listening to people speak. The scene where Simon is spinning wheels on a toy car is also very realistic. My only other comment is on the irony that, in 1998, before anybody figured out or suggested that mercury causes autism (this is a theory first posed in 1999 and gaining more and more credibility every day),the producers had the foresight to name their movie about an autistic boy "Mercury rising." |
| Rating | | | Date | June 17, 2005 | | Summary | Mercury should have risen higher | Content
| This is by far one of the most underrated movies ever and Bruce Willis's most underated movie ever. The little kid in this movie did good acting. Alec Baldwin is was a good bad guy in this movie. This sort of showed a father side of Bruce Willis. I had to buy the DTS mode because it's way better than 5.1 sourround sound. There sure were a bunch of good movies in the year 1998 and this certainly got overshadowed. Buy it action lovers. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 30, 2005 | | Summary | enjoyable, not meant to be a political Bell-Weather | Content
| However you write it,...
Yes , it is a Bruce Willis film, so if you like Bruce Willis it is fun. Plenty of great screen, edge of the seat moments, and very well done. Miko, who also appeared in a Wes Craven film, shows great tone and skill, in the film.
Mercury, the code, is cracked accidentally by an autistic child, and calls a phone number for a prize. Then Baldwin, one of them ... can't tell them all apart, decides to go ballistic.
Its one Patriot against a false patriot, and you can decide who is who, and that is the battle.
Its an enjoyable popcorn film. If you have to analyse the film, maybe you are also doing a political analysis of Mother Goose :-)
Anyways, it is what it is ... and some great action scenes, a classic FX shot when one villain gets shredded to death as he tries to kill the good guys, and plenty more.
Another cool Bruce Willis film.
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