Highest 2 Lowest

Denzel Washington

Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest is a dully mechanical remake of Akira Kurosawa's High and Low. Alan Fox's script changes the locale to New York and makes the 'high' character, Denzel Washington's David King, a music executive, but the core narrative remains the same. In both films, kidnappers target the son of the executive, but wind up snatching the son of his driver (here the always exemplary Jeffrey Wright) instead. Highest 2 Lowest never really recovers from its laborious and trite setup. Pretty much every member of the cast urges King to pay the ransom money, but he hems and haws how the music business has changed and the crime is ruining his last chance to be top dog. No one in his right mind, even if they haven't seen High and Low, thinks that King will not do the right thing.

The film gets better when it slips into action mode in its second half. Lee has always been expert in his use of New York locales and I enjoyed the tunes employed that range from Rogers and Hammerstein to Eddie Palmieri. Washington is always fun to watch and gets to both puncture his own pomposity and remain a kick ass dude. I very much enjoyed his face-offs with Princess Nokia and A$AP Rocky. Nonetheless, this is not a memorable film. Like many a Spike Lee joint, it feels over stuffed and gaseous. The film is at least twenty minutes too long. As with his version of Old Boy, Highest 2 Lowest is an unnecessary redo. High and Low is available to stream for free on Tubi and is highly recommended.