Mercury Rising completely lacks plot by Jon Stubbs features editor Bruce Willis plays a vigilante FBI agent who must singlehandedly pro tect a nine-year-old autistic savant in the cinematic bore Mercury Rising. Agent Art Jefferies (Bruce Willis) is a Valium-addicted cop teetering on the border of a nervous breakdown after a mishandled undercover opera tion in which a young boy dies. Jefferies blames himself for this death and seeks to redeem himself by protecting young Simon (Miko Hughes) from the governmental or ganization that is trying to kill him. The National Security Agency (NSA) wants Simon because he cracked a secret government code that he found in, of all places, a cross word puzzle magazine. This secret code, developed by Lt. Colonel Nicholas Kudrow (Alec Baldwin) and his colleagues, is used to protect the identities of undercover Ameri can agents around the world. Kudrow rationalizes that the lives of these agents are worth more than the life of one boy, and sends agents out to eliminate him. Agent Jefferies is the only person that realizes the NSA is after Simon, and fails to convince any fellow FBI agents that the boy is in danger. He then takes Simon into his own cus tody, barely eluding hired killers at every turn. This is where the plot stops devel oping. The entire movie drags on Lawrence Hall conducts Gender B ender program by Mark Greenbank stuff writer Every month the R. A.’s in each liv ing area on campus create different types of programs for the residents. Tuesday’s program was one of the most recent ones put together by the Residence Life staff of Lawrence Hall. The program was the last building- wide Human Relations type program for the year in the building, and it was entitled “Gen der Bender.” The game basically asks men and women to break up into teams, and then undergo a role reversal. The men are asked to answer questions from a woman’s point of view and the women are also asked questions and answer them from a male point of view. Once the team that was asked the question has come up with a collective answer, they give their answer, and points are awarded if photo by Andrea Zaffino The Mercyhurst choir performs in the Reed Union Building Lobby on Wednesday. with one party chasing another, and every move the characters make is completely predictable. Mercury Rising becomes a chore to watch af ter the first half-hour of the film. Director Harold Becker states "What drew me to Mercury Rising was that at its center is a unique char acter, an autistic boy." However, the character of Simon is explored very little, if at all. The director seems more concerned with whose ass Bruce Willis is going to kick next, not the emotions that a young autis tic who has just lost his family would be going through. Bruce Willis’ character is almost identical to John McClane, the main character in the Die Hard trilogy. However, in Mercury Rising his char acter develops even less. Although the advertising campaign for Mer cury Rising boasts of having Alec Baldwin in a leading role, he is present in only four or five scenes. So, in essence. Mercury Rising lacks star power as well as a plot or char acter development. One would think a government supercode would be constructed us ing calculus and other higher math ematics that a nine-year-old autistic would have no knowledge of. There fore, even the small amount of plot development that is in the film is in credible. Altogether, Mercury Rising is a complete failure of an attempt at en- tertainment they can match the response of the opposing team. Confused? Here is an example: Q: (for the men) Suppose you were a woman and strangely enough you The game basically asks men and women to break up into teams, and then undergo a role reversal. are playing strip poker. You have to take off one of these three items. Do you remove your a) bra, b) panties, or c) wig. The men would confer and try to answer the question from a woman’s point of view while the women reach an ansyver of their own. The teams then hold up cards with their corresponding answers, and if Outcast FBI agent Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis), must protect Simon (Miko Hughes), a nine-year-old autisic savant who becomes the target of assassins after inadvertently deciphering a top-secret government code in Mercury Rising. the men’s response (or the team that was asked the question) matched the women’s response, then the men would receive one point. One of the questions asked to the women was: Q: Suppose you were a man. You are at a party and after going to the bathroom you notice that-you have dribbled on your pants. Do you a) hide until it dries up, b) laugh it off, or c) leave the party immediately. All the questions and answers re ceived a big laugh throughout the entire night. The program was a big hit with the residents who participated. All learned a lot about the mind and thought processes of the opposite sex when each team explained how they arrived at their response. Also the idea of free pizza was enough to get a few of the residents to stay and play the game. Features NOW ACCEPTING RESUMES! Each of the Student Government Treasurers is responsible for: >l5 office hours per week > Keeping the records of all organizations recosnized by SGA Student Government Association STUDENT GOVERNMENT TREASURERS Generate monthly financial reports for all organizations Attend the weekly SGA meeting to present the account > > balances Closing out the books for the fiscal year Sign checks, purchase orders, etc during the semester Knowledge of MAS9O accounting system (preferred), but not required The position of Student Government Treasurer receives a $4OO stipend per semester along with an additional stipend for limited summer duties. The preferred applicant should be an upper level division student who may wish to obtain academic credit for work during his/her seventh and eighth semesters. (Three accounting internship credits may be acquired). All interested students should contact either Chris Rizzo, Director of Student Activities, at 898-6171 or Mike Zampetti. SGA President, at 898-6220. The Behrend College Collegian - Thursday, Aprd 16, 1998 ■ Page 9 ******************* JOB DESCRIPTION POINTS OF INTEREST r '1 ?Vf 1 *::4 .ft)* ,f t » - k-'.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers