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
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