John Archibald is a man who suffers greatly because of the lack of help he needs for a son who needs a transplant that may save his life. John is still suffering from his son's illness, finding that his medical insurance will not cover the cost of surgery needed by his child and that alternative government assistance is not available at the time because of the national health care crisis in America. The man decided to take an illegal action to get what he wanted by taking an emergency room in the hospital hostage in order to save his son's life.
Manipulative sentimentality, contrived plot and phony climax.
EmanuelLevy.Com
December 18, 2006
Social messages, simplistic action, and teary melodrama are manipulatively but unsuccessfully mixed in this picture, which tries to provide a "hard" look at an honest working-class man (Washington) who loses control while trying to save his child's life
A sappy, melodramatic Denzel Washington vehicle that ensnares you in the standard hostage-movie scenario and doesn't let go until the director runs the whole playbook.
New York Magazine/Vulture
February 24, 2002
It pulls out more stops than that old silent serial The Perils of Pauline. Unfortunately, it's a talkie.
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)
January 07, 2004
Instead of presenting the story and allowing us to draw our own conclusions, Cassavetes blatantly tells us what we should think.
A coercive script by James Kearns, and some middling direction by Nick Cassavetes, can't rob the movie of an undeniable, headlong crowd-pleasing power as it tackles an issue that touches us all.
