Rating: 
Summary: Dumb premise.
Review: If the super code was placed in a puzzle magazine (How would you even do this?), to test the "geek factor" and the code were broken, wouldn't you discard the code as failed because someone broke it? NO, let's kill the person, and anyone else that subsequently breaks the code. I try not to get too analytical in watching movies but this was too much of a stretch.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Bruce Willis we know in Die Hard
Review: It's kind of hard to picture Bruce Willis as the sentimental type. However, in this movie, he takes on the responsibility of an autistic boy and breaks all the rules to get to the bottom. Along the way you see Bruce Willis with a heart for this child. Not a bad movie, not the best either.
Rating: 
Summary: So very very bad
Review: Let me just say first that I forgive Bruce Willis very easily when he makes a bad movie. And this IS a bad movie. Make that VERY bad. There is no suspense, originality. Even the kid is annoying. If it had been a little girl maybe it could have been better. Even John Barry's musical score is bad. If you want to see a GOOD Bruce Willis movie buy LAST MAN STANDING. The only reason this movie is in my house is because my girlfriend likes it.The DVD is in Dolby 5.1 and is anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1.
Rating: 
Summary: Very watchable- at least to me
Review: Like one other reviewer, I too feel that the directors should be given credit for dealing with a rather sensitive issue ie autism. Miko Hughes I think did a wonderful job portraying Simon, who is an autistic savant. I think his acting was real and yet not overdramatic. For me, the best part of the movie IS "Simon". However, the movie itself is watchable as a whole. OK, so it may not be 100% realistic and there may be "gaps" as someone mentioned. But to me, that's really ok as these inadequacies can be overlooked. Unless you're one of those people who only like watching movies for the artistic or "intellectual" quality, Mercury Rising is great!
Rating:
Summary: Silly, contrived, low budget parody of the genre.
Review: Mercury rising hooks you with an interesting premise... Disabled boy has incredible ability to read top secret code effortlessly, putting government officials in difficult position and leaving boy vulnerable to attack, protected only by tough but sensitive cop. The foundation is quickly laid for chase scenes, double-crossings, and a whole host of other relatively predictable, but entertaining FBI/CIA/police/top secret facility "everyone you thought was a good-guy turns bad when the heat's on and it's up to the hero to save the innocent boy/girl/world" suspense tricks of the type you expect in a modern action thriller, but enjoy even though you expect them, because you didn't really rent this for intellectual stimulation anyway, did you?. Of course not, and as Sunday night purchasers of an easy-watch flick, we don't mind suspending reality just a little bit for effect. What we do mind, however, is suspending any semblence of intelligent thought. We do mind taking the time to drive to the video store, shell out four bucks, make popcorn and settle into our easy chair, only to be left at the end of an hour (which is all I could take before pressing the eject button) feeling that the fact that this movie attracted a large box office reflects somewhat sadly on the prospects for the human race. Not exactly chicken soup for the Sunday night blahs. To add insult to injury, we have to go out of our way to return the movie on Monday. We can't just clobber it with a hammer. The problem with Mercury Rising is that there are so many instances of the utterly ridiculous that the suspense is lost, and the movie becomes little more than a thin parody of its own genre. At times you wonder of you're watching Bruce Willis or Leslie Neilson. What are we to make, for instance, of the autistic boy's complete lack of friends, relatives, neighbors, child care workers, teachers, or anyone else who takes the slightest interest in his welfare? Who can expect us to believe that his parents are his only link to the world, and that when they are gunned down in cold blood, the tough but soft-hearted cop (Willis) is the only one who cares? How can we accept that the beaureucrat in charge of America's security (Baldwin) could ever conceive of working with the two bumbling oafs who purportedly came up with the top secret code in the first place? How can we believe that the gunman in charge of exterminating anyone and everyone who knows about the code leak would ply his trade with an eighteen inch gun/silencer combination on crowded city streets in broad daylight? What are we to make of Willis, whose mission is protection of the boy, leaving the child in a crowded cafe, under the custody of a woman whom he has never met? And are we really to believe any sensible woman would take charge of a stranger's child, let alone an autistic child? As if the introduction of this stranger into the plot isn't laughable enough, the director makes it completely ludicrous by dragging up the overused "I've only met you once but that gives me the right to knock on your door at three-a.m. because you're a softie and I'm really desparate for a place to sleep and I promise I won't rape you" trick. Hilariously, the woman opens the door. Even more hilariously, she believes Willis when he tells her that he is an FBI agent, but that he has nowhere else in the world to turn. That's right. No friends. No relatives. No hotels. No motels. No nothing. It's a very strange world in the universe of low budget film making. Good thing he met her yesterday, otherwise he'd just have to camp in the park, or sleep in the car. Which Willis did the day before, by the way. Very tired from running around all day with an autistic kid. Just parked and dozed off while the kid sat there beside him. Slept through the night. Slept through sunrise. Slept through rush hour traffic. Slept through the kid opening the door and walking out. Pretty sound sleeper for a cop protecting a kid from assassins, I'd say. No problem, though, because he woke up and found the kid five minutes later wandering just a few blocks away. Kid hops out of car while cop sleeps. Cop awakes in a panic, but finds kid strolling down the street safe and sound. That's about the tautest suspense scene you'll find in Mercury Rising. At every turn, overused gimmicks and silly contrivances wreak havoc with the plot. Take for instance, the events in the hospital where the boy is taken for examination after his parents are shot. Strap him to the bed, why don't we? That's always therapeautic for an autistic child after his parents have been shot. Good idea, let's just strap him to the bed, and leave him alone for the night. And by the way, let's make sure we don't put any blankets on him. And since nobody cares about him, we can certainly believe that the nurse on duty doesn't know his parents have been shot. Or did she forget that when his "parents" requested a transfer to another floor? But Bruce doesn't forget. No sir. Our hero puts two and two together in a flash. He knows that dead parents can't request a transfer, and smells something fishy. Rightly so. He rushes to the X-ray floor, just in time (of course) to find our gunman about to shoot the boy. Say, why is it that gunmen always have to request a transfer and call off the security guards. before they shoot someone in a hospital. Is that hospital protocol? I bet it's part of nurse training, learning to say "Sorry sir, you can't shoot that patient. He hasn't been transferred yet, and his security guards haven't been called off. Come back tomorrow. No doubt you'll find him in X-ray, no guards, no staff. It's nice and quiet down there. You can shoot him then. But be sure to come exactly at three o'clock, because the action hero is due to make is rounds at three-o-five. Of course if you come early, that's your perogative. But if you come early, you won't be allowed to shoot. You'll just be allowed to transfer the patient around the hospital until the action hero turns up." But the comedy isn't limited to the script. It's right there in the action scenes too. Take for instance the foot chase scene in which our hero tries to apprehend the gunman who's just shot the computer programmer in cold blood. As the gunman shoots at Willis, Willis, ever the community-minded cop, turns to a crowded staircase and yells "down". Instantly, the entire crowd stops and, as one, drops to its knees. No panic, no pushing, no movement. Only a hundred dollar budget for fill-ins and a scene shot in ten minutes. Done. Onto the next. Let's get the gunman shooting at the hero now. But let's create some confusion and suspense. Hmm, what could we do... Think... Think... I know! I have a terrific idea that's never been done before. How about we have some tourists just walk out innocently between the gunman and the hero, blocking the shot. Now gunman, you look stupid and confounded. Wave your gun around as if you're trying to get a clear shot past the innocent tourists. Good. Now panic-stricken crowd, you just stay frozen. Now tourists, you just walk out here, about a dozen of you. Don't take any notice of the guns or the panic-stricken crowd. You're Chinese, remember? You just think it's part of American culture. Snap pictures, OK, and talk a lot. Let's get the girls in front here. OK. Ready... Roll-em! That's a wrap. The only rise you will get out of Mercury Rising is your blood pressure, if you can endure it. Willis was great in Die Hard (the original) and has steadily gone downhill since
Rating:
Summary: Formulaic thriller(2 1/2 stars)
Review: Mercury Rising is by no means a difficult film to watch, but for the intellectual veiwer there is little plausibilty or suspense in its foolish, by-the-numbers plot. Bruce Willis certainly doesn't deserve his usual 20m pay check for wearing jeans and being macho for two hours. He simply doesn't convince as a maverick FBI agent assigned to protect an autistic child from government agents, failing to bring any sensitivity to his ludicrous role. Unlike Raymond Babbit in Rain Man, the autistic child cannot communicate at all but much of what else he does is clearly drawn from that character. He shouts when he gets nervous and mutters things to himself, only here it is far less convincing. The dialogue is sometimes hackneyed while the direction is disappointingly low-key. The film feels like an episode from a tv cop drama and could easily be trimmed down from its 2 hour running time to half that amount.
Rating:
Summary: Die Hard meets Rainman
Review: Mercury Rising is one of the better action movies that Bruce Willis has done. Alec Baldwin plays an excellent bad guy as he usually does. This movie will keep you interested to say the least. The boy (whose name I did not catch) that plays the autistic child gives a very good performance. Overall, this is a good action movie with a good story behind it. Its entertaining and worth a purchase. For Bruce Willis fans, this one is a must own!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Movie
Review: Mercury Rising was a story about an autistic 9 year old boy named Simon Lynch (Miko Hughes,Pet Sematary,Jack The Bear,Kindergarten Cop ) and an FBI agent,Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis,Sixth Sense,Die Hard).One day,Simon comes across a secret code in a puzzle book that his teacher gave him.When Art learns of Simon's ability to crack codes,he realizes that Simon's life is in danger.He battles the FBI to protect Simon's life and develops quite the reputation.I won't give away the ending,but I will say that this is worth watching.I plan to buy the movie as soon as I get a chance.If Bruce Willis and Miko Hughes read this review,you both did an excellent job.If you or anyone else has any comments about my review,my email address is posted with this review.
Rating:
Summary: Joel Storchan
Review: Mercury Rising was the first movie, that I can recall in which Bruce Willis is actually playing a serious character who is not just shooting bad guys. I was delighted by the concept and the folding story of this autistic savant youth placed into a action packed adventure. Bruce is showing that he can deeply care for his fellow man. Which, in itself, is unusual for this actor in the past. I enjoyed the development of the characters and the believable heartlessness of the government bureaucrat. I was intrigued by the trusting nature of the programmers, yet they were typical geeks who do their job but don't understand the political side of what they do. I like the photography, the story, the actions, the bad guys, the good guys and the drama. I give this a three star rating, it was a good time watching the movie. Oh, don't forget the popcorn.
Rating:
Summary: Autism and Encryption. Bruce Willis as partially human.
Review: No doubt underdeveloped and that's a shame because this movie had true potential for being an exquisite story. Hollywood might be surprised what a large audience it could hook with more in-depth characters, less violence and deeper development of themes. Nevertheless, I found this movie taking a hopeful prototypical step away from the tidal wave of macho-action-violence sans substance films that we have endured ad nauseum. The theme of autism was handled superficially, leaving the viewer with too little information, but the highly structured life-style, the eternal sidelong glance and the savant quality of the autistic boy were certainly intriging aspects in the movie. The beginning of a relationship between Bruce Willis and the boy was also a meaningful element which speaks to a potential in autistic individuals rarely recognized. In addition, a reader of the book, SIMPLE SIMON, upon which this movie is based, writes an enlightening review about encryption and the powers of the U.S. government which may be accessed at the Amazon site for this book. It would be nice to know if Hollywood is ever listening. Good storytelling can be extremely satisfying for the audience; without total formulaic stereotyping and without losing dollars. Perhaps the makers of MERCURY RISING might take another small step toward good story telling with their next movie by developing the themes and characters equally well as the action and violence.
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