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Mercury Rising

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This article is about the film. For the professional wrestling pay-per-view events, see WWNLive Mercury Rising.

Mercury Rising
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHarold Becker
Screenplay by
Based onSimple Simon
by Ryne Douglas Pearson
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMichael Seresin
Edited byPeter Honess
Music byJohn Barry
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • April 3, 1998 (1998-04-03)
Running time
111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million[1]
Box office$93.1 million[2]

Mercury Rising is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by Harold Becker and written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal. It is based on the 1996 novel Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Pearson. The film stars Bruce Willis as Art Jeffries, an FBI agent who protects Simon Lynch (Miko Hughes), a nine-year-old autistic boy targeted by government assassins after he deciphers a classified National Security Agency code. Alec Baldwin, Chi McBride, and Kim Dickens appear in supporting roles.

The film was released in the United States on April 3, 1998, by Universal Pictures. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, who criticized its formulaic plot and tonal inconsistencies, though several reviewers praised its emotional sincerity and the sensitive portrayal of autism. The film grossed approximately $93 million worldwide against a production budget estimated between $50–60 million.

At the 19th Golden Raspberry Awards, Willis received the award for Worst Actor. Moreover, Hughes won Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film at the 20th Youth in Film Awards.

Plot

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In South Dakota, FBI agent Art Jeffries goes undercover during a hostage situation involving a group of bank robbers. Despite his pleas for more negotiation time, the FBI storms the building, resulting in the deaths of the suspects and a teenage hostage, James. Jeffries, enraged by the mishandling of the operation, assaults his superior and is reassigned to desk duty.

Years later, in Chicago, nine-year-old Simon Lynch, an autistic savant, solves a complex puzzle in a government-issued magazine, inadvertently cracking a new NSA encryption code known as Mercury. The code's creators, Dean Crandell and Leo Pedranski, are reprimanded by their superior, Colonel Nick Kudrow, who deems Simon a security threat. Kudrow dispatches assassins to eliminate Simon and his family. Simon’s parents are killed, but Simon survives by hiding in a crawlspace. The scene is staged to resemble a murder–suicide.

Jeffries is assigned to the case and discovers Simon. When an assassin posing as a doctor attempts to kill Simon at the hospital, Jeffries intervenes and escapes with the boy. Though initially unable to gain Simon’s trust, Jeffries protects him from further assassination attempts, including an encounter on a moving train.

Branded a fugitive by the NSA, Jeffries enlists the help of fellow FBI agent Tommy Jordan. Jeffries arranges to meet Crandell, but the latter is killed before he can fully disclose information about Mercury. Pedranski, aware of Kudrow’s actions, attempts to alert authorities but is also assassinated. However, carbon copies of a letter he wrote are recovered by NSA analyst Emily Lang, who provides them to the FBI.

Jeffries confronts Kudrow at his home, demanding he expose the Mercury project’s failures. Kudrow, refusing to do so, manipulates the Witness Protection Program to regain custody of Simon. However, Lang’s evidence, verified by the FBI, exposes Kudrow’s role in the conspiracy. At a rooftop rendezvous, Kudrow and his men attempt to extract Simon by helicopter but are intercepted by Jeffries and a federal task force. After a confrontation, Kudrow is fatally shot by Jeffries while attempting to harm Simon.

In the aftermath, Simon is placed with foster parents. Jeffries and his acquaintance, Stacey Siebring, visit Simon at school, where the boy affectionately acknowledges Jeffries as someone he now trusts.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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Mercury Rising is based on the 1996 novel Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Pearson. Universal Pictures acquired the film rights shortly after publication. Barry Sonnenfeld was initially attached to direct but exited the project due to scheduling conflicts with Men in Black (1997). He was replaced by Harold Becker, known for directing thrillers such as Sea of Love (1989) and Malice (1993). The screenplay was adapted by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, who revised the tone and structure to shift the focus toward a more action-driven narrative. During development, the film underwent several title changes, including Simple Simon and Mercury Falling, before being finalized as Mercury Rising.[3]

Casting

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Before Bruce Willis was cast in the lead role of FBI agent Art Jeffries, other actors considered included Nicolas Cage and George Clooney. Willis officially signed onto the project in January 1997, reportedly earning a $20 million salary. Miko Hughes, who had previously appeared in films such as Pet Sematary (1989) and Kindergarten Cop (1990), was cast as Simon Lynch, a nine-year-old autistic boy central to the plot. Alec Baldwin joined the cast as antagonist Colonel Nick Kudrow, with Chi McBride and Kim Dickens cast in supporting roles.[3][4]

Filming

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Principal photography for Mercury Rising began in spring 1997 and took place primarily in Chicago and various locations throughout Illinois. Additional scenes were shot in Los Angeles and South Dakota to reflect the film’s cross-country narrative. Director Harold Becker collaborated with cinematographer Michael Seresin to create a tense, shadowed visual aesthetic in line with the film’s thriller genre. The film's final rooftop sequence was filmed on a skyscraper in downtown Chicago, involving extensive stunt coordination and green screen work for safety.

Release

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Home media

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Mercury Rising was released for VHS and DVD on September 15, 1998, followed by LaserDisc on September 22.[5] The Collector's Edition and DTS versions for DVD were released in 1999. A Blu-ray with Multi-Format was released on September 14, 2010,[6] and the Double Feature with the film and The Jackal was also released for Blu-ray on March 22, 2011.

Reception

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Box office

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Mercury Rising earned $10,104,715 in its opening weekend in 2,386 theaters, ranking in third place behind Lost in Space and Titanic.[7] Altogether, the film grossed $32,935,289 in the United States and $60,172,000 internationally for a total of $93,107,289.[2]

Critical response

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On Rotten Tomatoes, Mercury Rising has a score of 21% based on reviews from 57 critics with an average rating of 4.37/10. The consensus states: "Mercury Rising lays the action on thick but can never find a dramatic pulse to keep viewers—Bruce Willis—engaged with its maudlin story."[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[9]

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, writing: "Mercury Rising is about the most sophisticated cryptographic system known to man, and about characters considerably denser than anyone in the audience. Sitting in the dark, our minds idly playing with the plot, we figure out what they should do, how they should do it, and why they should do it, while the characters on the screen strain helplessly against the requirements of the formula."[10] James Berardinelli rated it one and a half out of four stars, saying: "The script for Mercury Rising is exceptionally tiresome and hard-to-swallow. ... Once again, certain standby plot elements—the high-level government conspiracy and the maverick law enforcement agent—are recycled, and not to good effect. While Bruce Willis can play the action hero as well as anyone in Hollywood, this particular outing leaves him marooned in situations that are characterized by too little tension and too much nonsense."[11]

Accolades

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Award Date of the ceremony Category Recipients Result Ref.
Young Artist Awards 6 March 1999 Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film Miko Hughes Won [12]
Golden Raspberry Awards 20 March 1999 Worst Actor Bruce Willis (also for Armageddon and The Siege) Won [13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Mercury Rising (movie details)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Mercury Rising". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "'Simon' summons Willis, Becker to U". Variety. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  4. ^ "'Simple' scribes connect on 2 pitches at U". Variety. Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  5. ^ "'Mercury Rising' and 'Deep Rising' due on video". The Kansas City Star. September 11, 1998. p. 106. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ "Unleashed and Mercury Rising Debut on Blu-ray on September 14th". 9 June 2010. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  7. ^ "'Titanic' had lost its space". The Philadelphia Inquirer. April 8, 1998. p. 44. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ^ "Mercury Rising". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on May 13, 2024. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  9. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  10. ^ "Mercury Rising". rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
  11. ^ "Mercury Rising - A Film Review by James Berardinelli". Archived from the original on 2022-04-10. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  12. ^ "20th Annual Awards". web.archive.org. 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2025-05-04.
  13. ^ [https://web.archive.org/web/20120831204759/http://www.razzies.com/forum/1998-razzie-nominees-winners_topic348.html "1998 RAZZIE� Nominees & "Winners" - The Official RAZZIE� Forum"]. web.archive.org. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2025-05-04. {{cite web}}: replacement character in |title= at position 12 (help)
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