Mercury
Rising
Someone knows too much
A
government supercode is cracked by an autistic nine-year old boy in
this thriller of government "secret agencies".
Bruce Willis is Art Jeffries, FBI
"bad-boy", drummed from his active duty role and assigned
a boring everyday job in the city. When he goes to check out a
double-homicide, he finds Simon, an autistic boy, whose parents have
been murdered. He had cracked the supercode, which had been printed
in a puzzle magazine as a "test" and the government agency
responsible, led by Kudrow (Alec Baldwin) is now on his trail.
Art goes underground with the boy in an attempt to flush out the people
responsible and find out why he is being targeted by such high-level
operatives.
This was actually quite entertaining
and kind of original in a relatively unoriginal way. Willis is
at his "rebel cop" best, picking up scratch and bruise aplenty,
while the performance of young Miko Hughes as Simon is quite incredible.
Only Baldwin looks slightly ill at ease with his bad guy role; he doesn't
quite have the sneer for it, I thought. Chi McBride is good as
Art's fellow FBI man, Tommy, and the helpful Stacey (Kim Dickens) is
also quite convincing.
Though the pattern of events do appear
slightly contrived and the ending is never in doubt, I enjoyed this
far more than I expected to. It's a cut above your average thriller,
probably due to some good writing and some good interaction between
cast members. With a more evil baddy, it would have been all the
better, but it's only really this that lets it down greatly. Recommended.
DJY
STORYLINE:
68%
ACTING: 71%
SPECIAL EFFECTS: n/a
CINEMATOGRAPHY: 79%
OVERALL:
75%
BEST
QUOTE: Lt. Colonel Nicholas Kudrow: My wife says my people skills
are like my cooking skills: fast and tasteless.
Main
Cast List
Bruce Willis.....Art Jeffries
Alec Baldwin......Lt. Colonel
Nicholas Kudrow
Miko Hughes......Simon
Chi McBride......Tommy B. Jordan
Kim Dickens......Stacey
Robert Stanton......Dean Crandell
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further information click here.
