Mercury Rising (1998)

Shadowy elements in the NSA target a nine-year old autistic savant for death when he is able to decipher a top secret code.

Director:

Harold Becker

Writers:

Ryne Douglas Pearson (novel), Lawrence Konner (screenplay)

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Miko Hughes, Alec Baldwin

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	Art Jeffries
Alec Baldwin	...	Nick Kudrow
Miko Hughes	...	Simon Lynch
Chi McBride	...	Tommy B. Jordan
Kim Dickens	...	Stacey
Robert Stanton	...	Dean Crandell
Bodhi Elfman	...	Leo Pedranski (as Bodhi Pine Elfman)
Carrie Preston	...	Emily Lang
Lindsey Ginter	...	Peter Burrell (as L.L. Ginter)
Peter Stormare	...	Shayes
Kevin Conway	...	Lomax
John Carroll Lynch	...	Martin Lynch
Kelley Hazen	...	Jenny Lynch
John Doman	...	Supervisor Hartley
Richard Riehle	...	Edgar Halstrom

Storyline

Bruce Willis is an outcast FBI agent who protects a 9 year old autistic boy who is the target for assassins after cracking a top secret government code.

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Plot Keywords:

autistic child | child in danger | autism | assassin | 9 year old | 

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Taglines:

Someone knows too much.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 April 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mercury Falling

Filming Locations:

Greystone Park & Mansion - 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,104,715, 5 April 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$32,940,507, 5 July 1998

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$93,107,289

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS DTS-Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In one scene, the characters played by Carrie Preston and Bodhi Elfman mention the animated sitcom "The Simpsons." Bodhi Elfman is the nephew of Danny Elfman, who composed the theme song for that series. Also, Alec Baldwin and then-wife Kim Basinger guest voiced themselves in a season 10 episode of "The Simpsons" entitled 'When You Dish Upon a Star,' which was originally broadcast 7 months after this film's release.

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Goofs

When Art and Simon are caught between the trains, Art's hand moves from Simon's ear in different angles.

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Quotes

[first lines]
FBI Supervisor Hartley: Let's go down.

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Alternate Versions

The german TV-Channel RTL cut all of the violence out of the movie, to send it on an earlier timespot (8.15pm).

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Newton Boys/Meet the Deedles/A Price Above Rubies/No Looking Back (1998)

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Soundtracks

Evil (Is Going On)
Written by Willie Dixon
Performed by KoKo Taylor
Courtesy of Alligator Records

User Reviews

He doesn't see things the way other people do

I haven't read the novel that this is based upon. In fact, I didn't know there was one. This happened to be on TV, I had no set in stone plans, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm honestly not sure why this is rated so low. Sure, there are some clichés. Yes, the idea of the government putting out a hit(with rather sloppy killers, at that) on a kid for a code is silly(besides, what if another one cracks it? How high a body-count is acceptable, exactly?). Look past those aspects. I haven't watched anything else by this director except for Malice, which was also a nice piece of work. This is put together quite well, with the editing and cinematography building tension and doing a decent job of conveying Simon's "ability". I've had experiences with Autistic people of different ages and varied severity of condition, and the depiction here is convincing and fairly respectful(do note that far from all who have the syndrome are as distant and/or helpless on their own as seen here), and this serves to explain and demystify it a tad(certainly more than I remember Rain Man doing). Miko researched for his role, and he does a great job. Willis is good(when isn't he?), and they do well together. Baldwin is as delightfully detestable as we know he can be. There is a nice amount of talent in the cast, if not all of it is allowed to shine. Granted, there could be more action. There is a little brutal, bloody violence in this. I recommend this to fans of thrillers. 6/10