JOHN
Q ($27) is a message movie that makes a very potent statement about
the sad state of health care in the United States of America. Certainly,
there are aspects of the plot that are far fetched, there are gaping holes
in the logic, some of the characters are clichéd and the story is highly
manipulative. However, one tends to overlook these flaws because the potency
of the film's message and the strong central performances. JOHN Q
stars Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald (aka John Q), a family
man who finds himself having difficulty making ends meet, when his company
reduces his hours of work. During a little league game, John Q's son collapses
and after he rushes the child to the hospital, the doctors discovered
that John Q's son needs a heart transplant.
Unfortunately,
as a result of working fewer hours for his company, John Q's medical coverage
is greatly reduced and the insurance company will not pick up the tab
for the transplant surgery. After losing an appeal and unable to get any
form of public assistance, John Q learns that due to the mounting medical
bills, the hospital is in the process of discharging his son- in essence
sending him home to die. With no other options, John Q decides to take
matters into his own hands by taking everyone in the hospital's emergency
room hostage. When the police negotiator arrives, John Q has only one
demand- a new heart for his son. In addition to Denzel Washington, the
cast of JOHN Q also includes Robert Duvall, Kimberly Elise, Daniel
E. Smith, Anne Heche, James Woods and Ray Liotta.
New
Line Home Entertainment has made JOHN Q available on DVD in 1.85:1
wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for
16:9 displays. Like most other New Line DVDs, image quality is absolutely
first rate. Everything appears sharp and finely detailed. Colors are nicely
balanced with the stark hospital interiors contrasting with strongly rendered
hues. Blacks are right on the money, whites are stable and the image has
smooth contrast, plus very good shadow detail. The film element used for
the transfer display virtually no blemishes and little appreciable grain.
Clean dual layer authoring keeps digital compression artifacts nicely
concealed.
JOHN
Q features both Dolby Digital and
DTS 5.1 channel soundtracks. Both tracks are very similar sonically, with
DTS having a slight edge due to the higher resolution of the format. JOHN
Q is very much a dialogue driven film, so the sound mix isn't particularly
showy. The mix creates natural sounding environments, with a strong forward
soundstage and atmospheric surrounds. Discrete sound effects are present
in the mix, but opportunities for their occurrence are very limited by
the nature of the material. Dialogue is very cleanly rendered and the
actors' voices maintain a natural timbre. The bass channel has a few moments
when it is noticeable, but usually, it just keeps the sound grounded.
Music is a very strong element in the sound mix and is reproduced with
excellent fidelity and a nice sense of presence. An English Dolby Surround
soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVD, as is English captioning.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features. This being an Infinifilm release, the DVD includes
a goodly amount of supplemental material, plus the option of watching
the movie in an interactive mode, in which supplements pertaining to a
particular moment become available during the course of the film.
Starting
things off is a running audio commentary with director Nick Cassavetes,
producer Mark Burg, writer James Kearns, actress Kimberly Elise and cinematographer
Roger Stoffers. The commentary is insightful and offers various viewpoints
on different facets of the production. A thirty-five minute documentary
entitled Fighting For Care looks at the problems faced by
Americans needing transplants, when dealing with the costs of the procedures
and medical insurance. A seventeen minute behind-the-scenes featurette
is also included, and while somewhat fluffy, it does offer a bit more
meat that most programs of this nature.
About
twenty minutes of material from the cutting room floor is present in the
form of additional scenes and scene extensions. These deleted scenes are
available with or without director's commentary. An Infinifilm Fact
Track is available on a subtitle track, offering additional information
relating to the movie. A theatrical press kit and theatrical trailer close
out the main body of supplements. JOHN Q is also DVD-ROM enabled,
offering the script-to-screen option of looking at the screenplay, as
well as the theatrical web site and other web links.
As
message movies go, JOHN Q is not a bad offering. The performances
and the potency of the message save it from its gaps in logic and manipulative
excess. As for the DVD, New Line has produced another winner, making this
a good way of checking out the movie and examining the issue it spotlights.
JOHN
Q ($27) is a message movie that makes a very potent statement about
the sad state of health care in the United States of America. Certainly,
there are aspects of the plot that are far fetched, there are gaping holes
in the logic, some of the characters are clichéd and the story is highly
manipulative. However, one tends to overlook these flaws because the potency
of the film's message and the strong central performances. JOHN Q
stars Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald (aka John Q), a family
man who finds himself having difficulty making ends meet, when his company
reduces his hours of work. During a little league game, John Q's son collapses
and after he rushes the child to the hospital, the doctors discovered
that John Q's son needs a heart transplant.
Unfortunately,
as a result of working fewer hours for his company, John Q's medical coverage
is greatly reduced and the insurance company will not pick up the tab
for the transplant surgery. After losing an appeal and unable to get any
form of public assistance, John Q learns that due to the mounting medical
bills, the hospital is in the process of discharging his son- in essence
sending him home to die. With no other options, John Q decides to take
matters into his own hands by taking everyone in the hospital's emergency
room hostage. When the police negotiator arrives, John Q has only one
demand- a new heart for his son. In addition to Denzel Washington, the
cast of JOHN Q also includes Robert Duvall, Kimberly Elise, Daniel
E. Smith, Anne Heche, James Woods and Ray Liotta.
New
Line Home Entertainment has made JOHN Q available on DVD in 1.85:1
wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for
16:9 displays. Like most other New Line DVDs, image quality is absolutely
first rate. Everything appears sharp and finely detailed. Colors are nicely
balanced with the stark hospital interiors contrasting with strongly rendered
hues. Blacks are right on the money, whites are stable and the image has
smooth contrast, plus very good shadow detail. The film element used for
the transfer display virtually no blemishes and little appreciable grain.
Clean dual layer authoring keeps digital compression artifacts nicely
concealed.
JOHN
Q features both Dolby Digital and
DTS 5.1 channel soundtracks. Both tracks are very similar sonically, with
DTS having a slight edge due to the higher resolution of the format. JOHN
Q is very much a dialogue driven film, so the sound mix isn't particularly
showy. The mix creates natural sounding environments, with a strong forward
soundstage and atmospheric surrounds. Discrete sound effects are present
in the mix, but opportunities for their occurrence are very limited by
the nature of the material. Dialogue is very cleanly rendered and the
actors' voices maintain a natural timbre. The bass channel has a few moments
when it is noticeable, but usually, it just keeps the sound grounded.
Music is a very strong element in the sound mix and is reproduced with
excellent fidelity and a nice sense of presence. An English Dolby Surround
soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVD, as is English captioning.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features. This being an Infinifilm release, the DVD includes
a goodly amount of supplemental material, plus the option of watching
the movie in an interactive mode, in which supplements pertaining to a
particular moment become available during the course of the film.
Starting
things off is a running audio commentary with director Nick Cassavetes,
producer Mark Burg, writer James Kearns, actress Kimberly Elise and cinematographer
Roger Stoffers. The commentary is insightful and offers various viewpoints
on different facets of the production. A thirty-five minute documentary
entitled Fighting For Care looks at the problems faced by
Americans needing transplants, when dealing with the costs of the procedures
and medical insurance. A seventeen minute behind-the-scenes featurette
is also included, and while somewhat fluffy, it does offer a bit more
meat that most programs of this nature.
About
twenty minutes of material from the cutting room floor is present in the
form of additional scenes and scene extensions. These deleted scenes are
available with or without director's commentary. An Infinifilm Fact
Track is available on a subtitle track, offering additional information
relating to the movie. A theatrical press kit and theatrical trailer close
out the main body of supplements. JOHN Q is also DVD-ROM enabled,
offering the script-to-screen option of looking at the screenplay, as
well as the theatrical web site and other web links.
As
message movies go, JOHN Q is not a bad offering. The performances
and the potency of the message save it from its gaps in logic and manipulative
excess. As for the DVD, New Line has produced another winner, making this
a good way of checking out the movie and examining the issue it spotlights.
