John Q.

John Q
File:John Q.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nick Cassavetes
Written by	James Kearns
Produced by	Mark Burg Oren Koules
Starring	Denzel Washington Robert Duvall James Woods Anne Heche Eddie Griffin Kimberly Elise Shawn Hatosy and Ray Liotta Obba Babatundé Ethan Suplee Kevin Connolly Troy Beyer Troy Winbush Martha Chaves Heather Wahlquist Introducing Daniel E. Smith as 'Mike'
Cinematography	Rogier Stoffers
Edited by	Emmanuelle Frowner
Music by	Aaron Zigman
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	February 15, 2002
Running time	118 min.
Language	English
Budget	36 million USD
Box office	$102,244,770 USD

John Q is a 2002 film by Nick Cassavetes; starring Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald, a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the recipient's list.

The film also stars Anne Heche, James Woods, Ray Liotta, Eddie Griffin and Robert Duvall, among others.

The film was shot in Toronto, Hampton, Ontario (ballpark scenes), and Canmore, Alberta, although the story takes place in Chicago.

Plot

As the film opens a young woman is recklessly driving a white BMW down a mountain highway. A slow-moving truck impedes her progress, and she attempts to pass it on a blind curve a second truck looms in the oncoming lane and clips the woman's rear fender. The woman spins and comes to a stop in front of the first truck which broadsides her car and she dies on route to the hospital (this whole ordeal is interspersed throughout the movie).

John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) is with his wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) at his son's baseball game. As his son, Michael (Daniel E. Smith) runs around the bases and heads to second he grabs his chest and collapses. After a series of tests at the hospital John is informed that Michael has an enlarged heart and will need a transplant. However his health insurance has been changed by the company he works for and the new policy does not cover the surgery, leaving them to raise $75,000 in order to get their son's name on the list of likely recipients of an available heart. The family tries to raise the money by selling some of their possessions and helping out their neighbors, but are only able to raise about a third of the necessary payment. Eventually the hospital gets tired of waiting for payment and decides to release Michael. Unwilling to let his only child die, John decides it's time to take drastic measures. John walks into the hospital emergency room with a handgun and begins a hostage situation. He gathers the hostages and sets his demands: his son's name on the recipient list as soon as possible. The hostage negotiator, Lt. Frank Grimes (Robert Duvall), stands down to let John cool off.

Meanwhile, John and the 11 hostages communicate and learn more about each other. They begin to understand John's situation and support him a little as he ensures each of them receive the treatment they came to the emergency room for. One of them, Miriam (Troy Beyer), is pregnant and her husband Steve (Troy Winbush) is hoping that their first kid is healthy. A young hostage, Julie (Heather Wahlquist), has a broken arm, and she and her boyfriend Mitch (Shawn Hatosy) claim that a car crash caused it, but due to some holes in their story (and the fact that Mitch's only injuries are scratches on his arm) John and another hostage, Lester(Eddie Griffin) are quickly able to conclude that the two are lying and that Mitch had actually beat Julie up.

After a while John agrees to release some hostages (one is Miriam who is about to give birth and needs to go to the maternity ward) in return for his son's name being on the list an hour afterward. Miriam requests that Steve leave with her but Steve only wishes for his wife and soon-to-be born child to go to safety. Mitch then says that he should go and the two have an argument about who will leave. During the argument Mitch says a racial slur to Steve and he, infuriated, starts to shove Mitch around. John intervenes, and Mitch, taking John by suprise, maces him with ethyl chloride, stabs him in the shoulder with a scalpel and tries to grab his gun. John fights back by headbutting Mitch twice, giving him a nosebleed. They then fall to the ground and wrestle, and the gun is knocked away. Mitch tells Julie to get the gun, but instead, she picks up the ethyl chloride and maces Mitch at very close range. Blinded and furious, he insults her, and she kicks him three times; twice in the backside and once in the crotch. Some of the hostages laugh at this and give Julie praise for taking a stand against Mitch. Julie then pulls off a blonde wig, throws it to the ground next to Mitch, and tells him that she's not going to be his "Barbie" anymore. John then takes some handcuffs from the security guard, Max (Ethan Suplee), then tosses the wig on Mitch, pulls him over to the radiator and cuffs him to it. Then he releases Steve, Miriam and a hostage named Rosa (Martha Chaves) with her baby.

The Chicago Chief of Police, Gus Monroe (Ray Liotta), gives a SWAT unit permission to insert a sniper into the building via an air shaft. John speaks with his wife and son telling them that the situation will be all right unaware that a hidden camera in the hospital has been hacked by a news crew and that his emotional conversation is being broadcast live on national television. John realizes the phone call is being broadcast and sees the sniper about to shoot him. John is shot but ends up receiving only a minor wound.

After taking the shot, the sniper's leg falls through the ceiling tiles and the outraged John pulls him out of the air shaft and beats him up. John's gunshot wound is treated by the emergency room staff and, using the bound SWAT policeman as a human shield, he steps outside to the sight of dozens of policemen pointing weapons at him as well as a large crowd gathered to support his cause. John demands that his son be brought to the emergency room saying "I am not going to bury my son, my son is going to bury me!". The police agree to his demand in exchange for the SWAT sniper.

Once his son arrives John reveals to the hostages his intention to commit suicide so his heart can be used to save his son. He persuades Dr. Turner (James Woods) to perform the operation and two of his hostages bear witness to a will stating his last request. John goes to say his last goodbyes to Michael and goes to the operating room where he reveals to the doctor and emergency room personnel that his gun was unloaded the entire time he held them hostage. John loads a single bullet into the gun and pulls the trigger but the safety is on. As he holds the gun to his own head a second time and prepares to end his life his wife is told about a woman killed in a car crash, the one from the opening scene, who happens to have the same blood type as Michael, and has been flown to the hospital for organ recovery. She runs to the emergency room and stops John from shooting himself and John allows the hostages to go free. Michael is given the life-saving operation and, after watching the procedure with Denise, John is taken into police custody. He is later acquitted of charges of attempted murder and armed criminal action but is found guilty of kidnapping. It is never revealed what his sentence for the crime will be but his lawyer is overheard saying that no judge will give him "more than 3-5 years" and that she'll try and get it dropped to two.

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews, with a 22% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the consensus being "Washington's performance rises above the material, but John Q pounds the audience over the head with its message". However, reception from the Rotten Tomatoes community was fairly positive.

See also

• Health disparities
• Sugreeva (film)

External links

• John Q. at IMDb
• John Q. at Rotten Tomatoes