Call it "Rainman Witness" for combining elements of two other popular movies, but "Mercury Rising" isn't likely to raise temperatures in theaters this spring. A tepid thriller that works on the most basic level, this movie surprisingly feels rather flat throughout most of the production despite a few standard-issue action set pieces. Willis fans will have to wait until his "big" movie, "Armageddon," arrives this summer hoping that picture will turn out better.
Essentially a combo of "Witness," where a cop takes a boy under his wings to protect him from the "bad guys," and "Rainman," where the main character's efforts are hampered by a communicably challenged, autistic person, the film both benefits from, and is hurt by its construction. Putting an autistic child in harm's way easily and quickly generates audience sympathy, and the fact that Willis' character puts his career and life at risk for the boy makes him A-Ok in our books.
Yet, since this film only uses autism as an obstacle for the main character -- instead of allowing him to learn and change as did Tom Cruise's character in "Rainman" -- the film simply becomes a standard issue suspense flick. When not carrying the screaming, flailing child under his arm, the good cop (or FBI agent, as it is) must avoid the bad cop (or NSA assassin) until the final confrontation where the good guy not surprisingly, and of course quite predictably, wins.
Beyond that, the film's biggest problem is that director Harold Becker ("Sea of Love," "City Hall") and screenwriters Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal ("The Jewel of the Nile," "Star Trek VI,") haven't given Art much to do other than run and hide. Audiences traditionally like proactive heroes who figure out how to stop the bad guys. Here, however, Willis must rely on others to bring him info, and the end result is that the film never gains much momentum.
Another problem lies with the film's villains. Kudrow, the high-ranking NSA official, is all slick and polished and can bark out the orders to have people rubbed out, but since he only has two scenes interacting with Willis' character, the expected fireworks are kept at a minimum. Instead, we get an essentially mute assassin who looks mean and shoots a few people, but that's about it. Heroes are usually only as good as the villains they must defeat, and since these guys only pop out of the woodwork every so often, the film isn't allowed to really take off.
There is also some ridiculous material, such as the NSA bad guys always being able to find Art and Simon (yes, they're the NSA, but unless they're associated with the Psychic Hotline, they'd have a hard time finding them so easily and so often). Plus, there's no way in one scene that Art would return Simon to his home knowing full well that the killers might think of that too. The only reason it happens is for Simon to call the puzzle hotline again and keep the story moving forward -- something that easily could have happened on the road with Art buying Simon a puzzle magazine (the same one) to keep him complacent. Such plot problems only further serve to lower the film's overall quality.
Willis ("Pulp Fiction," the "Die Hard" films), however, is good in his role as the rogue FBI agent, and easily fills the shoes of the lone hero (now his stereotypical role ever since the first "Die Hard"). Playing everything rather low key, he's effective as the sudden father-figure, but we don't get to know much about him other than that he's haunted by memories of the film's opening sequence where two teenagers were shot. If you like Willis' standard stoic tough-guy performance -- but without any of the John McClane wisecracks-- then you'll probably enjoy this one.
Alec Baldwin ("The Edge," "The Hunt For Red October") is okay as the bad NSA official, but like Willis, his character isn't fully explored. Although he makes several statements about the good of the many outweighing the good of the few (his justification for having the boy assassinated so as to save thousands of government operatives' lives that might be endangered should the secret code get out), this moral and ethical dilemma is never played out. For him, it's very cut and dried, and no one questions the ramifications of any of it.
The real standout among the cast is Miko Hughes ("Jack the Bear," "Zeus & Roxanne") who plays Simon, the autistic child. There's never a moment that the audience won't believe that this boy really is autistic, and that's a testament to Hughes' fine acting performance. The only problem is that, like Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rainman" or any similar performance, there's a constant, emotional brick wall between us and the character that never quite lets us through. Thus, while everyone feels sorry for what's happened to the boy, you don't ever truly connect with him.
Of course, many moviegoers might not have such problems with the film and may come off liking it (as did some at our screening). It certainly works as your run-of-the-mill thriller and Willis' fans will like his standard "kick butt" character. Yet, the movie never really takes off nor becomes as thrilling as one would expect and hope it would. Our diagnosis: The mercury will fall rather quickly on this film as the other pre-summer releases push it aside. We give "Mercury Rising" a 4.5 out of 10.
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