For many of his profession, moviegoers may depend on a brand new Spike Lee movie each 1-2 years. However one way or the other it’s been 5 years since his final joint, Da 5 Bloods in 2020, which arrived when his tackle racial politics and injustices collided with actual world occasions. Now he’s again for a fifth go-around with Denzel Washington, Highest 2 Lowest, a reimagining of the 1963 Akira Kurosawa movie, Excessive and Low.
Washington stars as music govt David King, who’s trying to save the file label he began from a company takeover. His leveraging of his belongings to purchase out a companion will get upended when Kyle (Elijah Wright), the son of his buddy and chauffeur, Paul Christopher (Jeffrey Wright), is mistakenly kidnapped by somebody who thought he was King’s son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph).
King is pressured to wrestle along with his conscience over whether or not to make use of ransom cash for Kyle, cash that was presupposed to rescue Trey earlier than the error is found. The stress from the police, Paul, and his household is one factor, however the truth that he would additionally probably be gifting away the cash that may save his firm makes the choice all that rather more troublesome.
Lee, working from a script by first-time screenwriter Alan Fox, as soon as once more showcases New York Metropolis for all it’s value. King and his household stay in a lavish high-rise condominium with a balcony that faces Manhattan, permitting for views of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Monetary District, and extra. The story takes the motion all around the metropolis, with Lee ensuring to incorporate scenes set within the Bronx to characteristic boisterous Yankees followers.
Sadly, the sightseeing winds up being the most effective a part of the film. Lee and Fox ship some clunky storytelling, with the movement from scene to scene not often feeling pure. The drama of sure conditions by no means reaches its potential as a result of Lee appears to be centered on issues like exhibiting small moments from completely different angles as an alternative of attending to the guts of the matter.
It’s additionally by no means clear what sort of story Lee is attempting to inform. The obvious subject would appear to be the present state of the music enterprise and the place of Black artists inside it, however the kidnapping plot largely pushes that to the facet. The push-and-pull of the ransom drama, in addition to the perpetrator of the kidnapping, tries to be a commentary on the corrosive affect of wealth, but it surely fails to hit dwelling.
After which we get to the appearing. Washington and Wright are every Oscar nominees who normally garner respect simply with their presence, however each give subpar performances which are indicative of the poor appearing from many different forged members. Stilted line deliveries abound all through the movie, virtually as if Lee was restricted to only one take with each scene and simply determined to go away them as is. The extra unhealthy traces pile up, the extra baffling it turns into that they have been allowed to point out up within the remaining product.
Lee is chargeable for some actually nice movies over the previous 30-40 years, however Highest 2 Lowest is not going to be becoming a member of that record. It has flashes of the director’s trademark trendy strikes, however the storytelling and appearing blunt any deeper that means that Lee might need been attempting to impart.
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Highest 2 Lowest opens in theaters on August 15.
