Review of John Q (2002) by Mandela W — 12 Jul 2015

John Q.

One of the worst issues that you can be plagued with is being broke. It's an issue that has been soley prominent with black folks both here in the U.S and especially Africa. The movie John Q looks at a black family with medical insurance problems. Having good insurance for medicare is something I appreciate greatly so you can imagine how bad a brotha felt having to see the Archibald family struggle with this on screen. So greatly executed by Denzel Washington and director Nick Cassavetes as well as the rest of the cast. A really underated feature by man zel.

John Archibald is a factory worker who is married to a wife who works restaurant shifts and a son who dreams of being a body builder. They are a happy but ultimately broke family, or at least close to broke as we see that they are not able to pay the car bills. When John;s son Michael suffers a potentionally fatal heart problem they immediately take him to the hospital. Unfortunately they find out that they do not have the proper insurance for a surgery. Both John and his wife try hard to get the money needed but they still fall flat and john is pushed into a corner by his wife and decides to take matters into his own hands. John takes hold of the hospital and keeps people hostage as he demands the doctors perform the surgery for his son.

The film is great! Not only does it look at black family with medical insurance issues but also looking at what a father would do for his son. Kinda raises awareness of medical insurance as a whole. Only thing is what the hell was the incident in the beginning why was that never explained? Denzel gives quite the emotional performance very different than most roles he's usually in. John is desperate man all around here. Robert duvall anne hetche and ray liotta do a good job here too.

I liked how its directed in a way where you truly believe this could actually happenPretty stunning that this hospital here were actually pretty unfair when it came to living up to their sworn duty. Nicely written into the story. Overall good script here really good. Both a good and bad ending for the film but wont spoil it for anyone.

John Q is a superb film that brings the heavy drama and a sense of awareness as far as the issues of black folks being broke or coming close to poverty. A must see flick.