Cast Makes Most Out Of Sketchy Plot
In Hollywood, a high-concept film is one that can be explained in 10 words or less to executives with short attention spans. The most famous example is “Signing gorilla is only witness to murder,” a long-standing industry joke - until it really was made into a TV movie.
“Renegade FBI agent shields autistic child who endangers national security” fits nicely into the pattern. Once that idea has been established, you can dispense with complicated characters, plot twists, even laws of nature.
“Mercury Rising” does all that and still turns out to be a better than average thriller. That’s a tribute to director Harold Becker and stars Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin, who stretch the script’s one idea almost to its breaking point.
Willis plays Art Jeffries, an FBI undercover agent who was unable to protect a boy during a shootout. The thought preys on him. When he learns 9-year-old Simon Lynch has broken an allegedly perfect code, bringing down the wrath of the National Security Agency, he dedicates himself to protecting the boy (Miko Hughes, trying hard to behave like a zombie).
Willis delivers the quiet, compassionate character he does well, though he’s not much different from the quiet, dispassionate murderer of “The Jackal.” Alec Baldwin makes cogent, nasty speeches as an NSA power broker, who believes Simon has to be murdered so the code can go on protecting thousands of agents around the world.
Small roles are decently cast, from Chi McBride as Jeffries’ partner to Kim Dickens as Jeffries’ irrelevant girl friend.
Becker and writers Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal make few attempts at credibility.
The continuity people may have taken a nap: A gun knocked over the edge of a roof tumbles to the sidewalk, but a man knocked over in the same spot falls through a plate-glass ceiling!
“Mercury Rising” Location: North Division, Spokane Valley Mall, Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls Credits: Directed by Harold Becker, starring Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Miko Hughes Running time: 1:50 Rating: R