Time: 133 Minutes
Age Rating: R16– drug use, offensive language
Cast:
Denzel Washington as David King
Jeffrey Wright as Paul Christopher
Ilfenesh Hadera as Pam King
ASAP Rocky as Archie/ Yung Felon
Director: Spike Lee

Remaking an iconic movie like Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low isn’t exactly the most exciting of prospects. However, the fact that it was Spike Lee directing at least had me very intrigued, along with Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright starring. I will say that Highest 2 Lowest isn’t as great as I hoped it would be, out of the movies I’ve seen from Lee, it’s among the bottom of the list. But I still liked the movie, in spite of some problems I have.

I was most looking forward to seeing how Spike Lee would adapt the original story to a modern setting. Highest 2 Lowest follows similar beats as to High and Low, but largely acts and works as its own thing. As with the 1963 film, there is social commentary and notable themes including privilege and wealth differences, but the remake also has a greater emphasis on artistic obsession and commentary on the state of the music industry. That being said, the first act, and in fact the first half, is a massive hurdle to get through. It’s incredibly uneven for a number of reasons, some technical, but even the writing and story wasn’t quite as gripping as they needed to be, and the pacing was off. From the moment the film reaches a sequence in a subway around halfway through, it picks up significantly. That’s when it really came into its own and started being what I expected a Spike Lee directed High and Low remake to be.

In the lead role, Denzel Washington as usual is amazing, delivering another charismatic and energetic performance that’s enjoyable to watch. Even when the movie didn’t have me entirely on board in the first half, he had me interested to at least continue and see it through. Jeffrey Wright is a standout in the cast, his character compared to his counterpart in the original movie is far more expanded on here, especially with a great dynamic between him and Washington. ASAP Rocky is also really good, the scenes with him were among the best moments of the movie.

As I said earlier, I was most interested in Highest 2 Lowest because Spike Lee was directing. However, I found the technical elements and choices to be a rather mixed bag. The cinematography on the whole was unremarkable outside of a few individual moments, it really did look straight to streaming. The worst of the technical elements however was the music. The actual songs that were played in the movie and the chosen songs (mainly the hip-hop and rap music) were quite good and fitted into the film really well. That said, the composed orchestral score from Howard Drossin felt like it was taken from a different movie entirely. It sounded like some melodramatic soap opera music, and when it was paired with a serious plot about a kidnapping, it felt tonally out of place, making much of the film hard to take seriously. Perhaps the contrast was like an intentional choice from Lee, but I didn’t see the purpose. At the same time, the direction had its moments, and around the halfway point you begin to notice some stylised choices that you’d expect from a Spike Lee film. The sequences involving subways were particularly top notch.

Highest 2 Lowest isn’t one of Spike Lee’s best; it’s shaky in the first act and the musical score is incredibly distracting. However, on the whole it is a solid crime thriller and an interesting remake of the original film, with some great performances.