JOHN Q

Year: 2002
USA: New Line Cinema
UK: Entertainment
Cast: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Kimberly Elise, Eddie Griffin, Shawn Hatosy, Anne Heche, Ray Liotta, James Woods, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, Heather Wahlquist, Daniel E Smith, Troy Winbush, Ethan Suplee, Ted Demme, Ron Annabelle, Obba Babatunde, Troy Beyer, Darrin Brown, Frankie Cassavetes, Rona Chavez, Jennifer Cohen, Kevin Connolly, Jeffrey Douglas, Allegra Fulton, Laura Harring, Sandra Jackson, Paul Johansson, Larissa Laskin, Jane Luk, Stephanie Moore, Claire Rankin, Dina Spybey, Kirsta Teague, David Thornton
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Country: USA
USA: 118 mins
UK: 116 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for violence, language and intense thematic elements
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and one scene of strong violence
USA Release Date: 15 February 2002
UK Release Date: 26 April 2002


Synopsis

Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington stars in JOHN Q, an action drama about the extraordinary chance one father takes to protect his son, becoming both an unlikely hero and a criminal in the eyes of the law.

John Q Archibald (Denzel Washington) is an ordinary man who works at a factory and takes care of his family,. His wife Denise (Kimberly Elise) and young son Michael (Daniel E Smith) are his world. But when Michael falls seriously ill and needs an emergency heart transplant operation that John Q can't afford and his health insurances won't cover, he vows to do whatever it will take to keep his son alive. With time and options running out, a desperate gamble becomes his only hope - he takes the emergency room hostage.

John Q barricades himself inside the hospital along with his unwitting group of emergency room hostages, many of them in need of medical care themselves. As the police start up negotiations with John Q, he finds himself coming up against, on the one hand, a veteran police hostage negotiator (Robert Duvall) and on the other, a quick tempered police chief (Ray Liotta) who wants to bring a swift end to the stand-off.