Taglines: Someone knows too much.
Mercury Rising movie storyline. 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 by maverick FBI agent Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis). Simon is emotionally unpredictable, complicating matters as Art drags him all over Chicago, eluding Kudrow’s hitman in a variety of interesting locations (train tracks, street scenes, heliport, Wrigley building) and improbable situations. Based on the novel Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Peardon, the film features Industrial Light & Magic special FX/animation.
Mercury Rising is a 1998 American action crime thriller film starring Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin. Directed by Harold Becker, the movie is based on Ryne Douglas Pearson’s 1996 novel originally published as Simple Simon. Willis plays Art Jeffries, an undercover FBI agent who protects a 9-year-old boy with autism who is targeted by government assassins after he cracks a top secret government code. The film was released on April 3, 1998, on Alec Baldwin’s 40th birthday. It received mostly negative reviews.
About the Story
A hostage situation in South Dakota: FBI Agent Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis), as the inside man, protects a teenage boy named James while trying to talk bank robber Edgar Halstrom (Richard Riehle) into surrendering. However, the FBI task force moves in, and in the ensuing firefight James and the robbers are killed. Jeffries confronts his superior, Hartley, who mentions that they must answer to Washington. An infuriated Jeffries punches Hartley in reply.
A cryptographic code called “Mercury” was created by the National Security Agency and is allegedly so complex that its creators believe no computer on Earth can decipher it. Originally it was created during the Reagan Administration as a test to keep the United States’ highest priority secrets under wraps.
One day, the NSA receives a message from a nine-year-old autistic savant with prodigious math abilities named Simon Lynch (Miko Hughes), who calls a telephone number written in the code which was secretly published in a puzzle magazine by two of the creators, Dean Crandell (Robert Stanton) and Leo Pedranski (Bodhi Elfman), to see if anyone could break it. Crandell and Pedranski’s division chief, Lt. Colonel Nicholas Kudrow (Alec Baldwin) sees the boy’s ability to decipher the code as a grave liability. He dispatches assassin Peter Burrell (Lindsey Lee Ginter) to murder the boy and his parents, Martin (John Carroll Lynch) and Jenny (Kelley Hazen).
After shooting Martin and Jenny, Burrell searches the house, fails to find Simon, and leaves at the sound of approaching sirens (Martin was able to call 911 before dying). Jeffries, who has been demoted following a diagnosis of delusional paranoia, is sent to investigate what is initially thought to be a murder-suicide.
While investigating the scene, Jeffries finds Simon hiding in a cache of his bedroom closet and takes the boy under his wing. Jeffries begins to realize the difficulty of protecting, let alone questioning, Simon because of his impaired social abilities as a result of his autism, but the Chicago Police Department agree to assign a protection detail to Simon. Burrell tries to kill Simon again at the hospital, but Jeffries stops him.
He is then forced to terminate an assassin named Shayes (Peter Stormare) on the Chicago ‘L’ train. The situation is further complicated by the fact that nobody at the FBI believes Simon is in any danger, and Jeffries is soon framed by the NSA as a kidnapper, with only his best friend and fellow agent Tommy Jordan (Chi McBride) aware that he did not commit the crime, since Jordan had been in contact with Jeffries when the incident began.
Jeffries borrows Jordan’s car (which Jordan later reports stolen to conceal his involvement) and takes Simon back to his house. Simon again calls the telephone number written in the code and talks to Crandell and Pedranski. When Jeffries confronts them, a conflicted Crandell arranges a meeting via encoded e-mail at the Wrigley Building. The next morning, Jeffries meets a woman named Stacey Siebring (Kim Dickens) in a coffee shop and asks her to watch Simon for him.
Mercury Rising (1998)
Directed by: Harold Becker
Starring: Bruce Willis, Miko Hughes, Alec Baldwin, Chi McBride, Kim Dickens, Robert Stanton, Bodhi Elfman, Carrie Preston, Lindsey Ginter, Peter Stormare, Kelley Hazen
Screenplay by: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal
Production Design by: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Cinematography by: Michael Seresin
Film Editing by: Peter Honess
Costume Design by: Betsy Heimann
Set Decoration by: Maria Nay
Art Direction by: Steve Saklad, James F. Truesdale
Music by: John Barry, Carter Burwell
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: April 3, 1998
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