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Time after time I am always surprised that my man Denzel Washington of Remember the Titans has not won an Oscar for his brilliant performances in all his films especially The Hurricane. This man can act. There are no cookie cutter roles for Denzel, whatever the role, he makes you believe it. I slammed Training Day because I didn’t like seeing my man in the bad guy role. Now that tells you I was so convinced by his character that I couldn’t take that movie, but Denzel shined. Just as he shines in John Q, as John Q Archibald, a distraught father trying to get medical care for his dying son Michael (Daniel. E. Smith). He is so intense you feel for this man, you get angry at the healthcare system and you are cheering him on even though he is committing a felony to get what he needs. That is powerful acting and Denzel never lets you down. The movie begins with a car getting smashed by two semi trucks and moves on to the Archibald household. You know there is significance in the opening scene, or why show it. So keep that in mind because it doesn’t come back into play until almost the end. The Archibald house is like any other suburban Chicago house, only this poor guy is having his wife’s car repossessed. He can’t catch a break. The factory he works at cut his hours down to 20, other factories decline him for work because he is over qualified and finding additional part-time work hasn’t panned out. We spend time with this family and learn they attend church, the boy Michael is a sweet, well behaved child that loves body building and the people that do it. What happens next is while stealing second in his little league game he drops to the ground, Denzel picks him up and rushes him to the hospital. This is where they learn Michael’s heart is not working and he needs a transplant. The hospital won’t do it until he comes up with $75,000 in cash for the $250,000 procedure. Well why doesn’t his insurance cover this you ask? Well John Q learns that his company recently switched to an HMO from their PPO because it was cheaper, and since John is now part-time he is only covered at tier 2 benefits, which the maximum payout is $30,000 and he is getting close to maxing that out just with the kids admit. He exhausts every avenue to come up with additional health coverage, he sells all his possessions and it just isn’t enough, poor Michael will be sent home to die so his mother Denise (Kimberly Elise) screams at Denzel to do something, so he better do something. This is when the lovable husband and father takes hostage Michael’s cardiac surgeon Dr. Turner (James Woods of Riding in Cars with Boys), the ER staff, and patients. What he wants is that horrible bitch hospital administrator Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche of 6 Days, 7 Nights) to put his son on the transplant list. Now hospital administrators have to make tough decision every day regarding health care of patients, but none have been as heartless or cruel as Heche, she played the role of a bitch well. As discussions of health care and HMOs take place in the ER, outside the Chicago police department and SWAT team argue on who does what. Heading up the hostage crisis is Grimes (Robert Duvall of The 6th Day), he sympathizes with John Q, but still has a responsibility to the hostages. In comes Police Chief Monroe (Ray Liotta of Blow) mugging for the cameras and reporters. He takes over, boffs it, and then gives it back to Grimes to clean up his mess. Now first of all writer James Kearns should have remembered his own story line when the HMO discussion took place in the ER. John Q wanted to know why Michael’s other doctors hadn’t discovered this in all his health exams and Kearns decided to slam HMOs by saying HMO doctors are paid by the insurance company to keep their mouth shut and not spend money on expensive tests and at the end of the year they get a big bonus for keeping costs down. Well, that HMO has rapidly gone the way of the dinosaur. Because those HMO groups have been going bankrupt faster than ENRON, it means the responsibility has reverted back to the insurance companies. Well, before it gets too technical, my beef is John Q had a PPO until recently, so the theory an HMO doctor just let the kid go undetected is wrong. Well now that I am off on a tangent I will end with a nice touch of director Nick Cassavetes to charge up the crowd in support for John Q with Pat Benetar’s, Invincible from the movie The Legend of Billie Jean. Same crowd mentality, same charge, with even the arms raised high in support. Also appearing in John Q was Eddie Griffin of Armageddon, Shawn Hatosy from Down to You, Keram Malicki-Sanchez from Crazy/Beautiful, Troy Winbush from The Replacements, Ethan Suplee, and Laura Harring of Little Nicky. This was a very emotionally draining and emotionally charged film. It was slightly predictable with some suspense. Denzel, fabulous as always, so I give John Q a nine on the About-Movies.com scale. Adios.
Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:48:21 AM Click Here to get back into frames.
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