Opening

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—— Alyce Kills May 24

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—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
90% The East May 31

Mercury Rising (1998)

tomatometer

13

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 7

No consensus yet.

audience

47

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 52,886

My Rating

Movie Info

In this action-suspense thriller, orphaned nine-year-old autistic savant Simon (Miko Hughes) deciphers a government code hidden in a puzzle magazine. Calling for his prize, Simon triggers an alarm at the National Security Agency: NSA chief Nicholas Kudrow (Alec Baldwin), who says the code protects covert American operatives all over the world, sends an assassin to do away with Simon. Simon's parents are killed, but Simon survives, hiding in a secret closet crawlspace where he's later discovered

Jan 2, 2002

Universal Pictures

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All Critics (54) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (29) | DVD (6)

At one point, this was titled Mercury Falling, and that is a far more apt name for this ice cold thriller.

April 1, 2009 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com
TheMovieReport.com

There's a lot of action but the thriller part of the movie never emerges.

July 17, 2007 Full Review Source: Houston Community Newspapers
Houston Community Newspapers

Surprisingly watchable

February 5, 2004
Atlantic City Weekly

Bruce Willis, an autistic kid and lots of explosions. You do the math.

July 14, 2003
KFOR Channel 4 News

Below average thriller. Not much action, not much character between Willis and the boy, but Baldwin is a good villain.

July 14, 2003
About.com

These people should really know better.

December 30, 2002
Flipside Movie Emporium

Audience Reviews for Mercury Rising

This is a rather formulaic, and predictable thriller, which is a real shame since the premise had a lot of potential.

Bruce Willis stars as an outcast FBI agent whose chance at redemption comes in the form of protecting a 9 year-old autistic boy who managed to crack a high level government code hidden in a puzzle book. The code got cracked, and due to the secrets involved with it, the cracker has to apparently be silenced, and that's where the film fails to live up to some of its potential. The target is a young autistic kid, and I can't really remember anyone challenging the moral question of eliminating the kid given the circumstances. The film sorta toys with the idea of who is more of a villain, but mostly it just relies on being a typical cat and mouse chase thriller.

Willis tries his best with the material, but doesn't do anything remarkable. The same can be said for most of the cast, save for Miko Hughes as the autistic kid, who actually does show some chops with having to play a difficult part with some amount of sensitivity and nuance.

See this if you want, but don't expect much since, despite the premise, it's a rather forgettable piece of work.
November 1, 2012
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

Interesting thriller that is solidly directed by Harold Becker. This is surprisingly sad story about autistic boy who loses his parents. Bruce Willis also gives definetly one his better performances in this one. It still has routine feel in it and moments of pure silliness, but it has some suspenseful moments too. Specially the climax is very well made and exciting with effective support from composer John Barry.
January 7, 2012
emilkakko

Super Reviewer

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