John Q... Denzel is awesome. Review on John Q

Wow the movie that I’m going to write a review on is powerful! This movie is a must see, and Denzel Washington plays a fantastic father and husband. This movie made me laugh, cry and get angry. I will explain all this in detail as I write the review. I loved Denzel in Training Day, but in John Q he is even better!

Cast

Rated PG 13 Action Drama Released in the USA on 2/15/2002

Denzel Washington (John Q) (also in the movie Training Day)

Robert Duvall (Grimes) (also in the movie Gone in 60 seconds)

Kimberly Elise (Denise)

Anne Heche (Rebecca Payne)

Kevin Connolly (Leo)

Eddie Griffon (Lester)

James Woods (Dr Turner)

Ray Liotta (Monroe) (also in the movie A Rumor of Angels) Shawn Hatosy (Mitch)

Ethan Suplee (Max)

John Q

Imagine this happening to you and your family. One day you are out watching your son play baseball. When he begins to run around second base all of a sudden he collapse and starts having convolutions. You rush onto the field and then he begins to stop breathing. That is what happens to John Q’s son (Denzel Washington). When they arrive at the hospital they are told that their son has a serious heart condition. John and his wife Denise start to cry. This is a real sad part in the movie, in fact I begin to cry right along with them. I guess I always seem to put my self in the actors place and then I think how I would feel if that was happening to me.

Rebecca (Anne) and the Dr who is in charge of the surgery Dr Turner (James) tell John and his wife that their insurance company is a HMO and that they will not cover the heart transplant that their son needs. (This really upset me when I heard this!) The Dr. Told them that the only way he would live is if he had this transplant, but Anne the lady in charge of the Hospitals financial service told them that since their HMO insurance didn’t cover any forms of transplants that they would have to pay for it in cash. John and his wife said ok, and then asked how much this would all cost.

250,000.00 dollars Anne told them, she also told them that they wouldn’t even begin to put their son on a donor list until they paid at least 25,000.00 dollars in advance. John told them to go ahead and begin the list and he would make sure that he had the money to pay for it all. Then Anne told him that she couldn’t do it, that there was nothing they could do and that they should just take their son home and let him die.

Anne had the nerve to tell them to accept their son’s death and to make his last moments happy. (Oh man did that really make me mad, how dare this lady tell him to take his son home and watch him die when they could save his life with a transplant). At this point in the movie the actors had me crying with tears rolling down my face. My kids of course laughed at me and said “mom it’s just a movie”. But I didn’t stop crying this was a powerful moment in the movie.

Dr. Turner was a real jackass he acted as if he didn’t want to do anything for this boy because he knew the HMO wasn’t going to pay for his service once he done the transplant. He made you feel so angry towards Dr.’s I always thought they had to save lives, not let them die. Now what was John going to do? He begins to sale all his possessions, and even sales his wives diamond ring. He came up with a couple of thousands of dollars, but that still wasn’t enough. They told his wife that they were going to send their son home that day, she called her husband and was crying and told him he better do something, anything to make sure that their son doesn’t die.

This puts John in the middle; he now has to figure out a way to save his son’s life. The frame of mind that John is in right now in the movie if it were real life I think I would be thinking on the same lines as he did, but I might have been thinking of robbing a bank or something to save my son’s life.

When your child is about to die you will do all you can to save him, especially if you know that there is something out there that can actually save your child’s life. Now is when the action begins, John takes hostage the Emergency room and the patients inside. First though he tries to talk to the Dr. one last time to have him do the surgery on his son.

When the Dr refused John took action. Inside the Emergency room there was a lady ready to give birth, a lady with a sick child, and a lady and man who was there to get the lady help cause she broke her arm. (Turns out the lady and man lied about how she really broke her arm). There are also a few nurses and others inside. John tried his best to help those in need; he didn’t want anyone to suffer. He acted real calm and he was concerned for each person there, this surprised everyone. Then they found out the reason why he took everyone hostage.

The press and police are now out front, and John is the prime target to be killed. With his son upstairs dieing and not long to live, John is downstairs pleading for someone to help his son and get him on the donor list for a heart. This is when you are introduced to Monroe & Grimes (Liotta, Duvall), Grimes is the police chief, but Monroe is the big chief and he tries to make Grimes look bad, but the funny part is at the end it turns out that Monroe is the one who looks bad.

Liotta didn’t have a big role in this movie, but Duvall did and he done a fantastic job. It is now up to Grimes to talk John out of killing anyone and let hostages go.

Conclusion I have to end the review now because I can’t let you know the ending. Let’s say that John Q is willing to do something that some parents might not even consider doing. It might be the ultimate “love” for a child. Will John get his son on the donor list, or will something else happen that his son will get a heart?

How does the hostage’s feel about John once everything is over and does John go to prison for attempted murder, kidnapping and etc? Will John’s son die or live and if so whose heart does he receive? The story line is awesome, and it’s not that predictable.

All the actors done an outstanding job, and the drama were cool. I loved this movie, and would watch it again and again. It made me cry so many times, and a few chuckles here and there with some of the actors who were in the Emergency room. Everyone does a fantastic job in his or her role. I was so upset when I found out how some HMO’s really do work, it upsets me that all a DR. has to do is stabilize someone and that is it. If their insurance doesn’t cover a surgery or any other types of tests then the patient just dies!

I believe no one should ever be turned down when there is some sort of medical miracles that can save their lives. HMO’s are sick, and I hate them. I would never use a HMO as my insurance provider! They can tell you whom you can see as a DR, and you have to get permission to see any other types of specialist. If the HMO doesn’t allow you to see anyone else then you can’t see him or her. This is WRONG! Something needs to change when it comes to Health Insurance in the USA! In conclusion please watch this movie!