Amazon.com: It's impossible to walk away from John Q. without thinking about the film that could have been. The pathetic state of health care in the U.S. and the desperate behavior it engenders is not only worthy but edgy material; no doubt director Nick Cassavetes (She's So Lovely) and Denzel Washington (as well as Robert Duvall, Ray Liotta, James Woods, and Anne Heche) were drawn to the provocative pitch. The only snag is that John Q. has about as much edge as an after-school special. Washington plays John Quincy Archibald, a hard-working factory worker whose house stands to be repossessed and whose lovely wife (Kimberly Elise) is at her wits' end. When his extremely cute son collapses while rounding the bases in a Little League game, things go from bad to worse. John Q. takes a downtown Chicago emergency room hostage when he learns that the heart transplant his son needs won't be performed because his health care doesn't cover it. The action-drama that ensues--replete with one-liners, stilted debate, inept snipers, and multiple references to O.J. Simpson's white Bronco--is so littered with clichés that the issues, timely ones, get lost in a crescendo of melodrama. --Fionn Meade
it made me cry i hope you chose to buy this movie it will make you think about the love of a father.
Denzel At His Best John Q is a simple film that will please the crowd. Denzel Washingtion is in top form as usual as are Ray Lilota and Robert Duvall. The direction by Nick Cassavates is some of his finest since She's So Lovely. After watching this film I asked myself would I do the same thing for anyone I loved and the answer is yes,
Criminal or father or the year? Mike Archibald (Daniel E. Smith) seemed perfectly healthy until he collapsed at a baseball game. He's taken to Hope Memorial Hospital where Dr. Raymond Turner (James Wood) advises the family the child needs a heart transplant.
Unfortunately, John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington) has an HMO and the surgery isn't covered. Despite the family being barely barely able to survive financially, they don't qualify for Medicare. John hocks everything he owns and pays the hospital a hard raised $6,000, they're going to release Mike. Mike's Mom (Kimberly Elise) tells John to DO SOMETHING.
The only thing John can think of to stop his son being released to go home and die is take the hospital ER hostage. He takes a gun--which he has not yet sold--and does just that.
Everyone has an agenda in this. The Police Chief (Liotta) wants to appease the mayor in an election year. The press want a story that will rival OJ's escapade with the white Bronco. The other patients in the ER want to get their own healthcare issues taken care of. Hostage negotiator Frank Grimes (Robert Duvall) wants everyone out alive.
"John Q" is one of the most compelling films I've seen in a long time because the story is entirely real. This is one of Denzel Washington's, James Wood's and Duvall's best performances to date. The story will have you in tears and cheering at points--and hopefully asking some meaningful questions about your own healthcare coverage.
Rebecca Kyle, May 2008
One of Denzel's finest performances I remember when this movie came out there was a lot of criticism towards it. I can honestly say that the only good things I heard about about it was these positive reviews on Amazon. I was determined to see it and I was finally able to see it. Guess what? It isnt as bad as these critics say it is.
Premise: John Q Archibald's son passes out during a baseball game. Once tooken to the hospital John and his wife find out that their son has an enlarged heart. John goes through great leangths to get money just to get his son's name on the heart donor's list only to get screwed over by the same hospital that was supposed to look out for him. Down on his last luck, John Q holds the whole hospital hostage at gunpoint until his son's medical needs are met.
Opinion: This movie is very touching as well as a sad testament to the issue involving healthcare. Many people bash the movie because they figure that the way John Q handled his son's situation was extreme but if you were in his shoes and handled that situation with passiveness then you deserve to get bullied by these corporate warthogs for being docile! Everybody with the exception of the ham that beats his girl fits into this movie perfectly. Eddie Griffin provided brief moments of levity, James Woods was great as the doctor who had to be forced into comprimising and John Q is one of Denzel's finest performances. The movie has a happy as well as a sad ending but I wont spoil it for those of you who have yet to see it. They say that the message of the movie was hammered onto the audience but in a world full of proud-to-be-stupid people, the only way to get a message so serious across is to beat it into their thick heads. I'll part by saying that not every movie that is critically panned is bad and not every critically acclaimed movie is good. See it for yourself.
John Q - Denzel Washington A WONDERFUl movie -very touching - very inspirational, very Denzel Washington - GREAT actor!
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