Art Jeffries is an undercover FBI agent who has crossed his superiors and been given jobs that might be considered beneath somebody of his experience. Simon Lynch is a nine-year old autistic boy with a talent for puzzles; one day Simon solves a puzzle and calls the number encoded within it. The puzzle is a test of an 'unbreakable' code, known as 'Mercury', crucial to the protection of key US assets and those behind it will go to any measure to hide the fact that it can be cracked... including murder. Simon's parents are killed and he is reported missing; Agent Jeffries is called in and finds Simon hiding. The murder is made to look like murder-suicide but he is unconvinced; soon it becomes apparent that Simon is still in danger although at this point Jeffries has no idea why. If he is to protect Simon he will have to uncover why is being hunted and by whom.While this isn't Bruce Willis's best action thriller it is still pretty solid. There are plenty of exciting action set pieces and a decent central story. It does require some suspension of disbelief... not only the idea that Simon could crack a modern code just by looking at it but also that somebody would commit murder to 'protect America' when Simon's actions don't pose a threat; they merely show the code wasn't as good as everybody thought. This isn't too much of a problem though as the story moves at a good pace and it is only when it is over one thinks of such matters. Films of this type often have an unnecessary romance and I thought this might too but that cliché was nicely avoided. Bruce Willis does a fine job as agent Art Jeffries and Alec Baldwin is suitably villainous as bad-guy Nick Kudrow. The stand out performance comes from young Miko Hughes who gives a great performance as Simon. Overall I wouldn't call this a must see but it is still well worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.

Made in 1998, "Mercury Rising" showcases Bruce Willis as a compassionate champion of one against a monolithic NSA that, even 14 years ago, acted as if it knew better than the American people what we needed to know, a surreptitious shadow governmental adjunct that took Machiavelli's central idea, that "The ends justify the means" to a hideous conclusion. As in many of Willis' other films, such as "Sixth Sense," Willis projects a strong, trustworthy male role-model for a troubled, albeit gifted, autistic boy of nine.What I enjoy best about this film, however, are the many intensely suspenseful "turns," throughout the movie, almost like a cinematic flow chart, in which the survival of the protagonists is extremely doubtful. This is a film in which truth overcomes malignant power, a work of art which illustrates what Helen Keller insisted is true: "I may be only one, but still I am one." The American people, and the people of the world, who need to continue to cherish freedom and hope, and work to instill and maintain both of those values until they're ubiquitous, need many more such movies.

Bruce Willis provides his usual excellent performance and Alec Baldwin pulls out all the stops in his role as the villain, but Miko Hughes is the one who gets MY Academy Award for his portrayal of the autistic boy, Simon Lynch.His portrayal is profoundly accurate in every detail from his lack of eye contact to his attention to the tiniest details of life (eg: refusal to step on cracks on the ground). The chemistry between Hughes and Willis is heartwarming, and is the foundation upon which the movie is built.I don't know too much about the movie's premise; indeed, I find the premise difficult to believe; however, as with sci-fi, I took this with a grain of salt and gave it the "it is what it is" attitude and went with it, refusing to allow it to put a wedge between the movie and my enjoyment of it.I give it a 9 because although the premise may be hard to believe, the acting, direction, and rest of the story line are excellent, which makes the whole thing work very well. I understand critics tended to give this a thumbs down, refusing to deal with "heartwarming" and "action" in the same movie. I say the marriage of heartwarming and action work well in this movie, and therefore refuse to be a killjoy in that respect.If you have a mo, watch this movie; it's more than worth your time.

There are two great acting performances in this film. Bruce Willis plays Art Jeffries, an FBI agent with attitude. Miko Hughes plays Simon Lynch, an autistic savant with a gift for codebreaking. Both are believable but Miko Hughes is astonishing – one of the best ever screen performances by a child. The scenes between the pair of them are really touching and you can believe that Willis really likes kids. Perhaps he does.The US government's pursuit of Lynch in this film may at first appear overly far-fetched and scaremongering. Then you remember the US attitude towards the British savant, Gary McKinnon, who was accused of perpetrating the biggest military computer hack of all time by hacking into 97 US military and NASA computers in 2002. Well, they didn't kill his mum and dad, and hunt him like an animal. But after 10 years of attempted extradition, and speculation of a 70-year jail term, maybe this story is just an exaggeration of reality, and not quite as ridiculous as some commentators have suggested.It's not really a downside but if you come to this film expecting a shoot-em-up action movie, you may be disappointed. It's much more than that and consequently slower – it's a touching drama with action scenes, and so we can forgive, just about, the pace through the middle of the film. The writing is actually very good and Pearson, Konner and Rosenthal all deserve credit.I did find the score a bit distracting. Sort of 'too big' and too 'James Bond' for the film. Scenes without music were better. Though the music being played at the club Jeffries visits was really good and I would have liked to have heard more of Koko Taylor (now no longer with us) belting out some blues.I was finding it difficult to see where this film was going. When Wills is with a kid, like in 16 blocks or Die Hard 4, you expect a visible end point, and there wasn't one. There was a sense of going around in circles. Until the last 5 minutes. Ultimately that cost it a couple of stars and the score lost another one. So seven out of ten for this.