UnitedHealth Care Shooting/John Q (2002) Movie Review

Hello boys and girls and welcome to Movie Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.

I am your host Kevin Reed and welcome everyone to Movie Goodness.

This is a bittersweet episode of Movie Goodness.

Reason being,

Movie Goodness is the flagship show here at the KB Radio Network.

This is the...

show that this network was built on and all the other shows or spinoffs or branches off of this tree you know and i love doing movie goodness always have loved doing movie goodness throughout my time of podcasting and as of late i

haven't been doing a lot of movie goodness you know it's been it's been kind of sparing and and a lot of that is because

I just haven't been inspired to do anything or to talk about a certain thing because a lot of the things that

I normally would talk about will come from a place of anger and I always wanted to kind of break from the norm you know have this show be have a little levity if you will and you know that's why we do it the way we do it we'll talk about a

certain pop you

culture issues or cultural issues or political issues and mix it up with a movie review and that's that kind of breaks the levity and lately i just have not been in the mood and for a lot of obvious reasons we know that presidential election didn't quite go the way that i was hoping it would go i know there's a lot of people out there that are uh

cheering screaming from the mountaintops they're happy

and god bless you but not me and other things other things that's had that has been going on uh you know around my life every you know and i'm a blessed individual i i don't like to complain too much but

you know i i'm happy in the general sense but there's a lot of things going on around me that's kind of disturbing and you know i really just hadn't been you

pumped up or excited to talk about a

Certain issues or or popular

Trending things that's going on in the world,

but this particular show and what makes this particular episode of movie goodness

Bittersweet, I'm happy to be back doing movie goodness in its natural form

But it's bittersweet because we're talking about something

pretty depressing you know it is nothing to cheer about or joke around about this is something serious because somebody died you know no matter if you disagree with this person's uh uh method of doing their job or politics or whatever the case may be you

know nobody deserves to be gunned down in in the street and of course we're talking about the incident that took place on december the

4th

in new york city when the ceo of united healthcare was gunned down shot and killed outside of a new york uh hilton hotel in manhattan in manhattan you

know and uh this just blew my mind when this happened no pun intended it was so like weird to me that this took place and the

a thing that really ran through my mind as I was watching this story on the news and diving into the internet and trying to find out some information about what what was going on you know I was like boy people people

are really starting to lose their mind and I think that it's only going to get worse and and that's the scary part about all this um knowing what's to come politically you

in this country in the next uh month or so it's scary it's very scary and of course i'm not saying this is tied up in politics per se the death of brian thompson is just weird

you know it is it's like okay people are willing to go to these extremes you know they've broken people are broken people are

just desperate and don't care anymore you know and this particular instant instance it's it's even scarier because this was so thought out and planned and executed that

is like man this was like a movie and that was that was the first thing that ran across my mind uh one of the first things that ran across my mind like man this this is like a movie i mean this dude you

whoever he is at the time of this recording he hasn't been caught yet um he planned this out to a tee and got away so far eventually he's gonna get caught there's no there's no ifs ands or buts about it probably

by the time i release this episode he'll be caught but um it was just crazy and we're gonna go through the timeline we're gonna break down exactly what took place and then

We're gonna review a film that just fits into this subject like a round peg you should say.

The 2002 Denzel Washington film

John Q.

Similar.

Not the same plot but similar.

And it deals with health care and what Denzel Washington as a character the extremes he took.

because of health care and this is basically what this assassin did he took matters into his own hands but let's go through the timeline surrounding the assassination of brian thompson

on december the

4th the ceo of united health care he was shot and killed outside the new york hilton midtown in

manhattan he was in town to attend an annual uh investors meeting at the united health group you know the parent company of united health care and authorities believe the attack was not random and anybody

with any sense or watched at least one episode of law and order knows that this was not a random attack uh

And the authorities,

the police,

everybody involved,

they're investigating it as a targeted killing.

So the shooting occurred early in the morning and the suspect,

described as a white man dressed in dark clothes,

fled the scene and has not been apprehended as of now.

Thompson was the CEO since

April of 2021.

His family reported that he received threats.

in the past so this is something that he was dealing with um before this took place on december the 4th you know uh now rather those all those threats came from this one individual i doubt it because everybody's upset with the health care i used to have united

health care years ago before uh the company i worked for switched to a different health plan but did united health care and you know i'm not trying to be disrespectful you

to the Thompson family.

I grieve with them.

They are in my thoughts and prayers.

And this has nothing to do with

Brian Thompson or his family.

This has to do with UnitedHealthcare.

It stinks.

That sucks.

I mean,

UnitedHealthcare is not good.

At least it wasn't,

I forgot how long ago it was.

It was over 10 years ago,

but it was not good.

I was so happy when my job switched.

to a different health care provider.

And they're not much better.

Let's not get it twisted.

They're all trash at its core.

But it was better.

It's better,

I should say,

than UnitedHealthcare.

But to jump back into this case here,

Thompson,

he was the

CEO of UnitedHealthcare,

the insurance arm of the UnitedHealth group.

uh since april of 2021 as i said uh his wife reported that he had received death threats in the past saying that they were motivated basically by a lack of coverage people were upset because the

coverage wasn't good and i can i can testify today you know i know a lot of people out there listening right now probably have united health care and you can say that the coverage is horrible um

It is completely trash as a healthcare provider.

And

I can understand the anger.

I don't see...

I'm not angry enough to kill the CEO of the company,

but I can see where the anger for the lack of coverage comes from.

Anywho,

after his death,

it was reported that Thompson was facing a lawsuit accusing him and other executives of insider trading after they reportedly stole millions of dollars of stock while the company was the subject of a federal investigation that was not disclosed to shareholders.

United Health was under Department of Justice investigation since October of 2023,

and insiders,

including

Thompson, was able to sell

$120 million of personal held United Health stocks before the stock value dropped.

United Health Care insures

49 million Americans and saw

$281 billion would be in revenue in the 2023 fiscal year.

In 2021,

Thompson was criticized in an open letter from

American Hospital Association due to

UnitedHealthcare plan to start denying payments for what it deemed as non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms.

Fast forwarding.

to the assassination of uh brian thompson uh thompson was in new york for an annual united health care investors meeting having arrived in the city on monday december the second on december the fourth at

around 6 45 a.m eastern standard time thompson was walking along west 54th street uh towards the new york midtown hotel

that was hosting that meeting.

He was shot by a man dressed in a black hoodie and armed with a nine millimeter pistol with a silencer on the tip.

The killer had waited outside the building for several minutes and shot

Thompson several times from approximately 20 feet away,

striking him in the back and in the right calf.

Police initially said that the killer fleed the scene on an electric city bike,

which is owned by Lyft,

but the NYPD later debunked that claim.

Thompson was taken to Mount Sinai West Hospital,

where he was pronounced dead at 7.12 a.m.

The NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams said the attack appeared to be a targeted killing and was not a random.

attack a little bit about the assailant but a little bit that we do know because um he hasn't been captured as of the time of this recording but the suspect is described by police as a white man approximately six foot one uh wearing a black hoodie uh sweatshirt and pants with a gray backpack

along with a black face mask police has said that he appears to be uh

proficient in the use of a firearm from how he quickly unjammed the pistol used in the shooting the suspect has yet to be apprehended he uh has been described as an extremely camera

savvy individual the suspect appeared in new york city on november the 24th from somewhere south of the city the suspect checked into a whole

in New York a hot a hostel in New York that was formerly a nursing home and on November the

30th with a fake

New Jersey

ID card and paid in cash the suspect had checked out of that hostel the previous day after staying there since November the 24th and that lets you know everything you need to know about this fella this was deeply

planned out

My only thing with that is how do you know all that?

You know,

how did they pick all that up?

But whatever

But don't know where he at or who he is.

I'm pretty sure they know they're just not releasing the information right now

But it's it's it's kind of peculiar that they released that bit of information Y'all was able to track him all the way back before Thanksgiving that this dude was staying at this hostel and

can't find him right now he vanished into thin air uh the investigation

So far with the shooter yet to be apprehended,

as of December the 5th,

authorities publicly released images of the suspect taken by security cameras at the

Manhattan hostel.

The stills appear to show a partial view of his face.

You can find them online anywhere,

but yeah,

I've seen all that.

Also,

disclaimer,

I should have mentioned this at the beginning of the show,

I saw the video.

of the shooting and i'm pretty sure everybody has seen it or seen snippets of it but i saw the whole thing a friend of mine sent it to me on uh x i think oh the link to it or whatever i didn't know what i was clicking on but he just randomly sent the thing and

i clicked on it i'm like what is this and it showed up that was the uh the murder of brian thompson and i'm like man this is

It's brutal.

And yeah,

I can,

I can agree that,

oh boy,

he knows how to handle a weapon.

Uh,

he put in a lot of practice with handling that weapon because it,

it jammed a few times and he quickly unjammed it.

I mean,

he was never flustered,

flustered or rattled or,

uh,

you know,

like nervous,

like,

oh man,

you know,

shaking like,

oh man,

it's jammed or nothing.

He just click,

click,

click.

And you know,

on with the show it was like i don't know man it was some john wick type assassinations you know he he was not phased at all you know it's disturbing that somebody is that cold blood uh

but uh while police have not recovered the weapon they reportedly believe the shooter used a bnt station six or a wheel rod a boat

action pistol with the integrated suppression possibly acquired in Connecticut.

Once again,

these police are beasts,

man.

They pinpointed,

they don't have the weapon,

but they was able to pinpoint exactly what type of weapon that is.

That is some skill there,

boy.

Policemen,

they be on their job sometimes.

Now,

this is where it gets really disturbing.

This is where you really sit back and like,

this dude this dude was on some other stuff man he was on a whole nother level here the words delay deny defend and dispose were found written on the case shells uh or the shell casings i should say at the scene uh dispose was written on a uh shell casing from

around that was fired into the victim and delay was written on a live round

that was ejected when uh the shooter was clearing the jam in his gun and so uh police believe this may include a motive as they are as they are similar to delay deny and defend a popular insurance

industry phase uh about not paying out claims and used as the title of a book critiquing

American Insurance System apart from the bullet casings a water bottle candy wrapper and a phone were also recovered from the scene and believed to be connected to the shooter

I must say this and I told a friend of mine this when we were talking about this the other day the candy wrapper in the water bottle yeah that's probably here that falling here this

dude was too smart

he was too smart to leave the phone if that if he left if and i'm that's me assuming now if he was that stupid to leave behind his phone he deserved to get caught he needed to get caught anyway but i mean how do you plan this out this thoroughly this cerebral this

cold-blooded and do something stupid like leave your phone you know because it wasn't like he was running he didn't run if you saw the video he just you

casually left you know and i don't know it's just weird it's very weird how that uh how that turned up at the scene now it probably is his phone but if it is it was a plant it's probably something to throw people off the police office sent you know i'm just like

i said i'm not playing this out i'm not a career criminal but it just seems you know i've watched enough movies criminals would do

stupid stuff like this and they and this dude all this was thought out and planned to a t and so it's hard for me to believe that uh he'll do something that careless but

You know,

time will tell.

But speaking of time,

let's go through this timeline again.

We're going to start all the way back.

And I say all the way like it was years ago,

but on November the 24th.

Now,

this is where it all,

quote unquote,

started,

at least the execution of this plan.

On November the 24th,

the suspect arrived in New York City on an interstate bus.

from somewhere south of the city and checks into this hostel on november the 29th the suspect checks out of that hostel on november the

30th the suspect checks back in to that hostel uh approximately 5 a.m on december the 4th the suspect is seen in at the frederick douglas houses housing development uh at 6 15 you

December the 4th,

the suspect is seen leaving the

57th Street F train subway stop.

Two minutes later,

the suspect buys coffee,

water,

and a granola bar at the Starbucks two blocks away from the New York

Hilton Midtown Hotel,

discarding the coffee cup and the water bottle.

6.39, the suspect arrives in front of the hotel and waits for several minutes.

One minute later,

Thompson leaves the Marriott Hotel where he was staying the prior night,

and he heads towards the Hilton.

6.44, Thompson walks across the street towards the hotel,

and the assailant shoots Thompson several times,

clearing,

misfunctioning out of his pistol.

The suspect immediately flees North Brown.

into a pedestrian walkway at two minutes later at 6 46 police respond to a 911 call about a person being shot two minutes later at 6

48 officers arrive at the scene and found thompson with multiple gunshot wounds to his back and leg he is taken to the hospital the assailant is seen traveling northbound on an e-bike towards central park at

six you

59 a person appears to be the suspect at least appearing to be the suspect is riding a bike on west

85th street at 7

12 a.m thompson is declared dead at mount sinai hospital at eight o'clock united healthcare investor meetings begin at nine o'clock the united health group ceo andrew

witty

canceled the investors meeting now this is this is where this is where it's crazy y'all had that meeting for a whole hour and didn't realize the guy weren't there i understand maybe you didn't get word that he was dead but or was in this involved in the shoot whatever the case may be he wasn't there it's the ceo how you start a meeting without the ceo but

they did and had it for an hour until they got word and then they canceled the meeting

united healthcare people and as of december the

5th the assailant is still on the loose so they have yet to apprehend him as of right now this is um this is sad bro this is this is really sad because at

the end of the day um this isn't gonna this isn't gonna help your health plan you know what i'm saying i mean

Killing him is not going to change nothing because that's the system.

You know,

God rest his soul.

Brian Thompson,

he didn't cause all this.

This has been going on since the beginning of insurance.

I don't care if it's health insurance,

home insurance,

life insurance.

They don't pay out.

Insurance does not pay out.

Insurance is horrible.

It is horrible.

It is the biggest scam known to man.

That.

in bottled water.

I still,

to this day,

feel that's the biggest scam on earth.

In a world,

80% water,

we have to pay for it.

But it is what it is.

But insurance is the biggest scam there is.

You mean to tell me

I have a policy,

I've been paying on this policy every month or every six months,

however you pay your policies,

doing it for years,

10,

15,

20,

30 years.

You have an incident,

you have something come up,

you go to the hospital,

go to the doctor,

you find out that you have...

a form of leukemia,

cancer,

diabetes,

whatever the case may be,

insurance.

Oh,

we can't cover it.

Oh,

no,

that's not covered under your policy.

This isn't covered under your policy.

That ain't covered under your policy.

Oh,

you can get this medicine,

but you can't get this medicine,

but you need them both.

We only going to pay

10% of this call.

It's the most ridiculous.

ridiculous system on earth.

It's just here.

It's just here in the United States.

Well,

maybe not just here.

I'm only speaking in terms of this is where I live and this is what I know.

I do know other countries.

There are multiple countries that have free health care and they don't have these problems.

They don't have to worry about the CEO.

or the ceo or the cfo getting involved in in uh insider trading and all this other foolishness you know you playing with my money you realize you playing with people's lives and

and i'm talking to insurance people here you you realize you playing with people's lives literally people are dying every day because they do not have proper health care do not have proper

coverage.

They have insurance,

but don't have proper coverage because insurance companies don't pay out.

They don't care.

And you know,

I know,

I know people and I,

uh,

I'm not going to go there cause I don't feel like crying because this,

this is real.

Um,

I know people who,

who did not have proper coverage.

from their health care and didn't have enough money to get the medicine they needed when they were dying from cancer and that yeah and trust me it hits close to home and so yes it is it's a problem it's a serious problem that

uh uh that needs to be solved involving these health care companies uh but does that mean we need to go out there and put bullets

and CEOs of these companies?

No,

no,

no.

That's not going to,

that's not going to solve the problem,

man.

That's,

I get the anger.

I do get the anger.

I just don't get the outlet.

You know,

find a better way to express your anger.

That ain't going to do it.

And like I said,

this was as cerebral as it gets.

I mean,

the words that was called,

you know how much time it took for him to carve in.

though deny um what was it deny um defend the dispose and delay all that to carve that into those casings that was a statement literally a statement was made and it's just the beginning people are frustrated people are tired they

are tired and i think the top

percentage of this country the the big wigs here the politicians here don't understand the level of frustration that american citizens are feeling right now they take it as a game and it's it's not a game it's

seriously not a game but uh yes this is sad uh my like i said my condolences go out to the thompson family uh nobody deserves that i you

you know no matter how mad you are with the company he worked for nobody deserves that um to be gunned down in the street like a like a dog man i mean even a dog doesn't get treated like that that is that's messed up uh but

uh yeah my thoughts and prayers are with his family but um let's move on to our film let's let's move on from this depressing real life story and talk about a depressing

film that came out in 2022 the thriller drama uh directed by nick cassavetes starring denzel washington robert duvall uh james woods and haish and

ray leota uh the late great ray leota is also in this film john q and this film stars denzel washington as the title character a man

who takes a hospital room hostage in order to

save his son with a heart transplant.

I remember this movie ever so vividly.

This was after

Denzel Washington won the Academy Award for his portrayal of Lorenzo in Training Day,

where he was the most despicable villain in movie history up to that point.

He was,

I mean,

you couldn't get more evil.

than what Denzel Washington was in training day and for him his next role to be John Q it kind of I mean not kind of but complete polar opposites of each other yes this is a man who uh

breaks the law you know taking people hostage or whatnot but he's doing it for noble reasons um so his son can get a heart transplant you know and his son is dying and

his insurance the hmo that's when h and hmos were popping still have h and hmos but it was really bad back then they're bad now but they were really really bad back then but he he um he couldn't get the heart transplant so

he took matters into his own hands i was super satisfied with it back then i'm very happy with this movie back then i thought it was i thought it was very um

i guess if i was doing this show back then and reviewing it it probably would have got an a plus but time time 22 years is a long time and uh re-watching

it i still feel is a good movie but it's nowhere to the level that i thought it was back in 2022 denzel washington gives another great performance which is probably the most

redundant statement ever you know i mean when does denzel washington give bad performance yeah what you got to go back to saint elsewhere or something i don't know if i ever seen denzel washington give a bad performance but he he gives a dynamic performance in this film quite honestly if

anybody else was cast in this role it this movie would be whatever this would be like a throwaway film that you'll find on the screaming service

these days but this was a theatrical release in 2022 and ended up grossing over 100 million dollars uh back then so it just goes to show you what time would do because if this movie would never make 100 million dollars if it was released in

2024 but this was a film that i thought it had promised this movie has promised like i said looking at it you

And with younger eyes,

20 something years ago,

I thought it was very innovative and smart the way the story unfolded and how this movie was set up.

You know how it begins with this car crash,

with this woman being killed in this car crash.

And you're wondering,

who is this and what does she have to do with Denzel Washington taking over a hospital?

But then the next scene,

we kind of flashback to a couple of weeks earlier.

And this is where we meet Denzel Washington,

John Q,

and we see his family life.

You know,

he's a factory worker and whatnot.

He has this young son,

has his wife,

who's played by Kimberly Elise.

And nice little setup,

you know.

And I think that in order for him to get the transplant,

that his son to get the transplant would be like

$200,000 or something like that.

It's something ridiculous.

you know and we're talking 2022 money you know and i know inflation is not that much but heck it can't it's a lot that's still a lot um two hundred thousand dollars for a heart transplant my god jesus

you can't just uh tape it up or something i mean two hundred thousand dollars but anyways uh the insurance of course didn't cover it

wasn't uh getting i mean no help at all and his son is having difficulties you know but the hospital required a down payment and i think the down payment was like 75 000 or something like that and of course you

don't have 75 000 you know you only have like a thousand dollars in their savings and it was just it was just horrible and john q's uh insurance

wouldn't cover none of the surgery.

None of it.

Because

I think he had changed policies or something like that.

He had changed policies.

And due to the fact that they changed the policies,

and

I think he had reduced his hours at work because he had to take care of his son.

And so because of those factors,

they wouldn't cover.

The insurance company would not cover his son's transplant.

And his son has an incident where,

you know,

or episode,

I should say,

where his heart is going out and whatnot.

So he had rushed him to the hospital,

and he's begging the doctors,

him and his wife and all this stuff here,

and he's had enough.

He's had enough.

And he takes the hospital hostage or that wing of the hospital hostage in order for...

his son to get the transplant and the majority of the movie is uh denzel washington playing off of the negotiators who's played by uh robert duvall uh

who i mean what a gem man i'm he he hasn't passed away thank god but i miss him in films now because he's much older now you can see him pop up in a lot of stuff now but but uh

he was just i just love to see him pop up on screen whatever he will pop up and uh this was a good role for him and to see him and denzel bounce off of one another and these negotiations was really fun um the performances by everybody else in this film were really good even um eddie griffin the comedian he

was in here and he had a nice little role it was just it was just a good movie good solid film

um a little unbelievable you have to suspend this belief a lot because in real world events i don't think this would have played out like it you know with the uh somewhat happy ending you know with his son eventually getting the transplant by you

guessed it the woman who had the car accident in the beginning of the film that was the setup for that and um it all worked out at the end but

it was uh it was uh a little unbelievable you know it was just a tad bit convenient uh what they call that what's the term for that uh ex-marketer or something but yeah other than that i

think the performances are great nick casavate uh verrys who is a really good director but he was also an actor i remember him from the uh the reef

you know that old film i say old jesus i'm old uh from the 80s with uh charlie sheen with the car he came back from the dead with the car to raise people and kill him uh that was awesome uh he was the villain in that he was also in

face off and um as a director he directed this and he also directed what a lot of people say is the most romantic movie of all time based off the most romantic book of all time

the the notebook and that's a film i never watched not because i refuse to watch i just never watched the notebook but it is celebrated as the most romantic film of all time but uh one of these days i'll probably do it for valentine's day i'll probably do i'm don't hold me to it but i'll probably do it for valentine's but

in any event yes uh nick cassavetes i think he did a good job here uh directing this film you

There's a relatively small film,

but with a big message and a huge purpose with a ginormous actor in the lead role,

probably the greatest actor of our generation in a role that is slept on.

I think when a lot of people talk about Denzel Washington and his performances,

yeah,

you bring up Training Day,

you bring up Glory,

you bring up

Macbeth.

You know,

all of these films that he's done throughout his his career and it's hard to pinpoint what's his greatest.

I'll never say what his greatest is,

but I can say that

John Q is a slept on performance that nobody talks about.

They're like,

this is a awesome performance by Denzel Washington.

I'm telling you,

if it's not Denzel Washington in his role,

this will be.

of whatever movie.

I mean,

there's no other way to describe it.

It is,

it is screaming at best,

but

Denzel Washington giving it his all.

It is,

it is like,

mwah,

beautiful,

powerful performance.

John Q from 2002 gets a letter grade of a B minus.

Yeah,

I think it's a really good film.

If anything,

watch it for Denzel Washington's performance.

He is the lead.

He carries this movie.

He puts it all on his back and he has the shoulders to carry.

Really,

really good film.

And a little nugget.

One of the reasons he took.

this film took this role was because he had just finished training day and he was so bad and i mean bad as in good you know he was such an evil character he wanted to you know his next role to be something that people would cheer for a

role that people would kind of uh get behind him with because he knew that once people saw training day that he would be despised you

so he chose john q because of training day so we can thank train training day for this performance in john q but yeah um yeah man uh that's sad that's a sad situation i hope that the authorities catch

this guy uh that just brutally killed uh the ceo of united healthcare uh brian thompson uh

Yeah,

I hope they get them and get them soon.

Don't let them don't let them roll around and thinking that he got away.

I don't want him to have that pleasure because that's that's not right.

Even though mentally we're probably on the same page as far as our hatred towards the health care system.

But not not in not like this.

Not not to these extremes,

sir.

no i i can't i can't uh sanction that uh but uh yeah i hope they catch this guy and catch him soon so everybody i hope that you enjoyed this episode of movie goodness as we discussed this despicable act that took place in new

york city uh just this past week on december the 4th the murder of brian thompson and our review

of John Q from 2002 starring Denzel Washington.

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UnitedHealth Care Shooting/John Q (2002) Movie Review

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