by: Brandon Pope
Let’s level set — I’m not as high on Spike Lee’s direction as many. At his best (‘Malcolm X,’ ‘Inside Man,’ ‘Do the Right Thing’), he’s a cinematic savant. At his worst (Chi-Raq, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus), style overwhelms substance. His latest, an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s masterful ‘High and Low’ titled ‘Highest 2 Lowest,’ lands squarely in the middle — but I still loved it.
The film reunites Lee with frequent collaborator Denzel Washington — the Jordan and Pippen of Black cinema — for a lavish crime thriller that doubles as a love letter to New York City.
As in Kurosawa’s original, the story centers on a kidnapping gone wrong and its tangled aftermath. Lee’s remix infuses it with fresh cultural and aesthetic flavor. Washington plays David King, a Jay-Z-esque music mogul with “the best ears in the business.” His label, Stackin’ Hits Records, has hit a slump and is up for sale. As King wrestles with buying it back to keep control, his son is kidnapped, forcing him into a tense standoff: pay up or lose his boy. The setup makes for a stylish crime caper that overcomes a shaky start.