Mercury Rising

In Mercury Rising, Bruce Willis's latest, a head honcho on the FBI (Alec Baldwin), has his gun sights honed in on a cute little autistic kid Simon (Miko Hughes) because the lad has cracked a vital security code.

The FBI has decided to murder the lad rather than write some new computer software!

What price the head of a civilian? Certainly less than the two billion American dollars the security system cost. It must be a sure sign of their mistrust of American official institutions that Americans will accept such scenarios as a basis for entertainment.

Anyway Mercury Rising is fairly involving as a thriller, if a little chilling, or should I say mind deadening for the above mentioned reasons.

Bruce Willis plays his stock anti-hero; mouth agape, violent, stubbled and stubborn. He adopts the boy as his charge when it becomes obvious that someone is out to get the lad and there are the usual chase and shooting scenes.

Miko Hughes is effective as the autistic lad, but having one of the co stars of the film unable to converse with the others beyond the odd shriek and mumble does present obvious problems for Mercury Rising.

Alec Baldwin is the nasty but very smooth FBI man. Baldwin's movie star looks makes him ideal for such parts but we've really seen enough of these stock plot, re hashed multiplex fill ins.

Mercury Rising will make a tidy profit on video sales because of Willis and Baldwin but don't rush to see it on the big screen.