Mercury Rising: 6 BEERS (Not good, not bad)

Mercury is a new government supercode that is supposed to be unbreakable. When Simon (Miko Hughes), a 9 year autistic kid, solves a puzzle in a book he unwittingly cracks Mercury and thus becomes a liability. Nicholas Kudrow (Alec Baldwin), who works for the NSA, decides that Simon and his parents must be eliminated. Simon proves too hard of a target for the government hitman but Simon's parents are not so lucky. Art Jefferies (Bruce Willis) is assigned to investigate an apparent murder-suicide. Jefferies was an undercover FBI agent but was reassigned after beating his superior after a botched bank robbery in wich 2 teenagers were killed. He soon rules out the possibility of murder-suicide and discovers where Simon is hiding. Jefferies takes it upon himself to look out for Simon and gradually begins to unravel the mystery surrounding Simon with the help of fellow agent Jordan (Chi McBride) and Stacey (Kim Dickens), a benevolent stranger.

The people who made Mercury Rising must think the average movie watcher is stupid. The whole premise is so implausible you would have to be brain dead to buy into it. The idea that a billion dollar supercode could be deciphered just by looking at it is ludicrous but if we are to believe that, why the hell did they put it in a puzzle book. The second is briefly touched on but unsatisfactorily. Another quandary arises as to why Stacey would put her life on hold to help Jefferies and Simom since she has no clue as to the validity of their story. It is unfortunate that good performances by Willis and Hughes are wasted in an improbable film. The action sequences are marginal and too few in number. Although well acted, Mercury Rising is just another average action/thriller movie.

Official Mercury Rising Page

Photo from Universal Pictures