No one would deny we could use a good dramatic exploration of the shitty health-care system. But Nick Cassavetes's manipulative tract will only make people angrier, not empowered. Denzel Washington is John Quincy Archibald, a loving dad and hard-working machinist whose son needs a heart transplant. When the hospital claims his insurance isn't sufficient, John takes matters into his own hands, kidnapping hostages at gunpoint (including the unspeakably stiff James Woods as a cold-hearted surgeon who says things like, "If you don't like the system, write to your congressman"), and demanding his son be placed on the donor list. John, as Everyman, is necessarily heroic, and the plot twists are nail-biters that turn on his integrity and desperation. Yet Washington, so stunningly good these days, transcends the heavy-handed script. Kimberly Elise also shines in the potentially cardboard wife role. The supporting characters confound: Robert Duvall is a grizzled hostage negotiator ridiculed by media-hound police chief Ray Liotta, and Anne Heche (looking like a robot made of white chocolate) is the evil hospital administrator. Watch for some propagandistic and downright ghoulish video footage of various celebrities decrying the health-care mess, including the recently deceased Ted Demme, seated near Arianna Huffington as she slams HMOs on Politically Incorrect. At the Entertainment, Hoyts Providecne 16, Opera House, and Showcase cinemas.