Mercury Rising (1998)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Harold Becker

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

3 April 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Someone knows too much.

Plot:

Bruce Willis is an outcast FBI agent who is assigned to protect a 9 year old autistic boy who is the...

Plot Keywords:

Code | Boy | FBI | Assassin | NSA

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	Art Jeffries
Alec Baldwin	...	Nicholas Kudrow
Miko Hughes	...	Simon
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	...	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

Also Known As:

Mercury Falling (USA) (working title)
Simon (USA) (working title)
Simon Says (USA) (working title)
Simple Simon (USA) (working title)
Das Mercury Puzzle (Austria) (Germany) [de]
A kód neve: Merkur (Hungary) [hu]
Al rojo vivo (Spain) [es]
Alguien sabe demasiado (Argentina) (original subtitled version) [es]
Código Para o Inferno (Brazil) [pt]
Code Mercury (France) [fr]
Codice Mercury (Italy) [it]
Kod Mercury (Sweden) [sv]
Kod Mercury (Poland) [pl]
Kodenavn Mercury (Norway) [no]
Kodenavn: Mercury (Denmark) [da]
Kodikos: Mercury (Greece) [el]
Mercure à la hausse (Canada: French title) [fr]
Mercure se hausse (Canada: French title) (TV title) [fr]
Mercury Rising (Spain) [es]
Merkurjev srd (Slovenia) [sl]
Misión - Máxima seguridad (Mexico) [es]
Nome de Código: Mercúrio (Portugal) [pt]
Nume de cod: Mercury (Romania) [ro]
Salasana: Mercury (Finland) [fi]
Sifre Merkür (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS-Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Denmark:15 | Canada:AA (Ontario) | South Korea:15 (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 (w) | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | South Korea:18 (DVD rating) | Ireland:15 | Italy:T | Spain:13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Imagine Entertainment

Trivia:

The wine that Art opens in Kudrow's basement is Chateau Petrus from Pomerol (identifiable by the red seal at the bottom left corner of the label), probably the most expensive Bordeaux red wine, and contrary to what Art said in the movie, even young Petrus costs much more than $75 per bottle.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the ambulance, they skip the green card in Simon's collection, which is why they appear to be in a different order on the train.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in Watch the Mercury Rising (1999) (V)

Soundtrack:

London Jam

S10 Reviews: Mercury Rising (1998)

Bruce Willis (Die Hard) stars in this excellent thriller as a FBI who specializes in deep undercover. But when his current infiltration of a militia group goes sour at a botched bank robbery he gets demoted to recording wiretaps. While on assignment Willis is ordered to help out with a missing child whose parents seemingly dies in a murder suicide. But all is not what it seems when the child is discovered to be autistic and to have stumbled onto solving the most important secret the NSA has…Mercury, the unbreakable code hiding the identities of all the undercover agents worldwide. The project leader (Alec Baldwin) will stop at nothing to protect his code not even killing an autistic little boy.

"Mercury Rising" is a solid novel adaptation by Harold Becker (Malice, Domestic Disturbance). The cast of this thriller nail all their performances. Willis always plays an excellent flawed tough guy in this role with it tailored just for him. Miko Hughes (Spawn, Pet Sematary) plays the autistic boy so well you almost thought he wasn't acting. It moves at a breakneck speed building tension along the way as various covert types try to put a bullet in Willis and companies collective head. "Mercury" is a solid thriller.