Mercury Rising is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by Harold Becker and starring Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin. The movie is based on the novel Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Pearson.
The story revolves around nine-year-old Simon Lynch, a highly intelligent autistic boy who breaks a top-secret government code called "Mercury". The code was developed by the National Security Agency (NSA) for use in their new encrypted communications system. However, when Simon inadvertently breaks the code, he becomes a target for rogue NSA agents who want to silence him to cover up their mistakes.
Art Jeffries, a renegade FBI agent on the run from his own colleagues, is assigned to protect Simon from the NSA agents. Art has to earn Simon's trust and keep him safe from the dangerous agents who will stop at nothing to get to him. The two form an unlikely bond as Art tries to unravel the mystery behind the Mercury code and the potential national security threat it poses.
As they run from the NSA agents, Art and Simon travel across the United States and eventually end up in Chicago, where they confront the rogue NSA agent Peter Burrell, who is leading the pursuit. In a final showdown, Art and Burrell engage in a violent and explosive confrontation that ultimately ends in Burrell's defeat.
The movie concludes with Art and Simon saying their goodbyes but with the promise of keeping in touch. The NSA shuts down the Mercury code and Simon is ultimately allowed to live a normal life without fear of persecution.