EPISODE · Mar 26, 2026
Mercury Rising
from Unclear and Present Danger · host Jamelle Bouie
On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch the 1998 action thriller Mercury Rising, directed by Harold Becker and starring Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, and Miko Hughes. The film follows FBI agent Art Jeffries, who goes on the run to protect a nine-year-old autistic boy after the child accidentally cracks a classified NSA encryption cipher — drawing the attention of a rogue intelligence official willing to use lethal force to keep the program secret. In their conversation, Jamelle and John discuss the film’s offensive depiction of autism, its vision of “the deep state,” and the various ways it reflects mounting paranoia around government surveillance. You can find Mercury Rising available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. Episodes come out roughly every two weeks, and so we will see you then with an episode on a 1998 TV movie about the Oklahoma City bombing. And don’t forget to check out our Patreon, where we cover the films of the Cold War and do a weekly politics show. You can find that at patreon.com/unclearpod
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On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch the 1998 action thriller Mercury Rising, directed by Harold Becker and starring Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, and Miko Hughes. The film follows FBI agent Art Jeffries, who goes on the run to protect a nine-year-old autistic boy after the child accidentally cracks a classified NSA encryption cipher — drawing the attention of a rogue intelligence official willing to use lethal force to keep the program secret. In their conversation, Jamelle and John discuss the film’s offensive depiction of autism, its vision of “the deep state,” and the various ways it reflects mounting paranoia around government surveillance.
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Mercury Rising
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