Thoughts on Mercury Rising

 

via Giphy/Courtesy NBCUniversal

"Are you telling me a 9-year-old kid cracked a government supercode?"

Mercury Rising is a hell of a lot more interesting to watch in 2022 than it likely was in 1998. The book Jump the Shark claimed that although Mercury flopped, Bruce Willis' chemistry opposite Miko Hughes earned him his role in The Sixth Sense. Ryne Douglas Pearson's book Simple Simon was adapted by Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal, whose resume to date included The Legend of Billie Jean (and after Mercury, Konner got back into the David Chase/HBOverse). Hell, the prologue has Art (Willis) trying to de-escalate an act of domestic terrorism (and by Richard Riehle, no less!). Mercury also has Alec Baldwin playing a self-serving guy who's not above saying nasty things about children and has no apparent remorse for unnecessary death. 

Things are pretty consistently grim. Riehle's gang, including a son Art tried to save, is fatally shot just when Art had convinced them to peacefully surrender. The experience caused a rift between Art and his bosses at the FBI, but not his friend and fellow agent, Tommy (Chi McBride). Later on, Bruce has a "I'm getting rid of my crutch" moment when Art mans up for Simon (Hughes). Art's throwing out his downers, which is probably not a good thing, but points for the sentiment. Simon, who is autistic, was able to decipher the code to Mercury, included in a game magazine as an unauthorized security test by Dean and Leo (Robert Stanton and Bodhi Pine Elfman). Who knew international security-grade codes were the length of phone numbers? Roger Ebert also noted that Simon didn't appear to have the code's key, either. Lt. Col. Kudrow (Baldwin), whose career rides on Mercury's success, wants Simon killed. For Mercury to work, you have to believe a Bruce Willis-starring, Brian Grazer-produced flick could kill off an autistic boy.

"Now this might be difficult for you to grasp, but I am a patriot. And a patriot is one who makes the right moral choice. Sometimes it takes a strong man to make that choice. One boy cannot survive on his own. One of nature's mistakes weighed against the lives of thousands of our people. Think about it. You worked undercover. How many of our agents will be put in harm's way if this code is compromised? Members of your team. Men like Rashid Halabi, an Iraqi-American, and a great patriot. A man who as we speak is undercover in Saddam's Republican Guard. A man who has not seen his family ..."

*Art kicks Kudrow in the chest, sending him backwards to the floor of his wine cellar*

"That's for Simon's parents, you piece of shit. You got 36 hours. Should be enough time to get your undercover people out of harm's way. *starting to exit* Oh, by the way ... Happy Birthday, Nick."

*Art topples a rack of no doubt expensive vintages*

Directed by Harold Becker, Mercury was apparently filmed just before significant upgrades in CGI. Art protecting Simon and himself from being hit by either of two Chicago L trains -- not to mention the audio overload for Simon* -- should be exciting. Alas, it's undercut by how obvious it is that Bruce and Miko were in front of a green screen. I wanted that moment for my representative gif, but couldn't find it in a trailer or TV spot, which gives a hint as to how Universal's promotional department felt about the end result. Unfortunately, the L scene is not an isolated incident. We also have the grand finale atop some skyscraper, with Simon getting on the ledge for whatever reason. I'm not sure we needed the extra drama when there's already assassin Burrell (LL. Ginter) getting his comeuppance and Art and Kudrow facing off. It's only their second scene together. I'll give Mercury credit for not slapping on an unnecessary history for the two men.

*Variety: "Audiences are bound to be made highly uncomfortable by the repeated sight of Willis literally tucking the flailing, screaming kid under his arm while eluding the latest threat." That's how it was for me.

Instead, we have the seemingly newly-invented character of Stacey (Kim Dickens), a traveling saleswoman who's sorta Art's love interest. (In Simple Simon, Art was married to Simon's psychologist.) It the filmmakers intended to do more with Stacey, they must have changed their minds. She doesn't show up until more than an hour into the movie, after better non-action scenes were already shared between Art and Tommy and before them, Simon and his doomed parents (John Carroll Lynch and Kelley Hazen). There are times where Mercury felt like it wanted to abandon the thriller plot and be a serious drama about building a relationship with an autistic youth. I'm honestly surprised that the movie didn't end with Art adopting Simon.

"Would you give your own kid up?"

"It's not your kid!"

"Yeah? Well, right now, he's nobody's kid. His mom and dad got shot dead by a real bad guy. Remember?"

(Bruce/Art should have just stopped at "he's nobody's kid" to make the implied "but mine" land better.)

Not Recommended.

Thoughts:

-- "Get this straight. I don't trust you or any agent of your occupation government. ... I have an order from the Citizens Court of South Dakota to seize the ill-gotten assets of this bank." Later, when Art, who has infiltrated the gang, tries to convince Edgar that they're defeated: "God just wants this miracle to be greater." See what I mean? Domestic terrorism.

-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $33 million on a $60 million budget, this opened at No. 3 and came in at No. 61 for 1998.

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: Mercury was released amid James Cameron vs. Kenneth Turan, which Jack Matthews, Turan's Los Angeles Times colleague, weighed in on. "If James Cameron wants to convince people what a fine writer he is, he should offer Mercury Rising as a comparison. Next to this, Titanic is Dostoevsky." Ebert: "If a 9-year-old kid can break your code, don't kill the kid, kill the programmers." Stephen Hunter, Washington Post, wondered why Burrell would stage an apparent murder-suicide. "Wouldn't some kind of hit-and-run accident be far easier to manage?"

-- Critic's Corner, the actors: Ebert felt Willis, Hughes and Dickens all performed "better than the material deserves." This one's more related to the movie, but Variety agreed. "(The picture is loaded) with considerable additional weight with which it is frankly unable to cope." Hughes was given too daunting of a role for any child actor to play, according to Matthews. "All you see is the effort," he wrote. Variety did like Bruce, though. "Willis' star aura and ability to project street smarts and resolute willpower are about all the film has to pull the viewer through it." "Willis has become an Everyman superhero," Michael O'Sullivan wrote in the Post.

-- Awards Watch: Hughes won the Youth in Film Award over the likes of Kieran Culkin in The Mighty, Ian Michael Smith and Joseph Mazzello in Simon Birch and Gregory Smith in Small Soldier, all movies on this year's viewing schedule. Willis, meanwhile, won the Razzie for a package of Mercury, Armageddon and The Siege.

-- Hey, It's ...!: Peter Stormare, Kevin Conway and Camryn Manheim.

-- Hey, It's the '90s!: Art having to ask, "Got a phone on you?" to make a cellular call. Also, Simon's adorable Rugrats nightshirt, Emily comparing herself to Ricki Lake while hopped on caffeine ("... like I can talk to anybody.") and doing a Bart Simpson impression when suggesting how Leo can save face ("Kudrow, dude, chill out. It was that way when I got there.") and a depressed Art watching David Letterman.

-- "Who needs a fix? Double tall, double dark, double sweet. Double everything. I'm so glad I missed the whole drug thing so my body was virgin territory for caffeine."

-- Next: Grease. On deck: The Spanish Prisoner.