Highest 2 Lowest

This seems to be the first Spike Lee movie I have bothered to see in the cinema for a while. Because it seemed like one of his bigger productions and didn't seem like it was going to bash you over the head with a message about racism. Because the problem with most black American movies is they tend to be either hood movies or go down the racism is a bad thing trope. Spike has many of these under his belt. This actually seemed like a movie in which race didn't matter.

Now this is apparently based off another book and movie but not ones Id come across which was a good thing. No judging this based off other media.

What this is, is a story about a record label boss who ends up being extorted through a kidnapping plot. Not very Spike but actually quite engaging. There's even a few decent action scenes thrown in. But being a Spike movie there are the usual nods to black culture and social commentary style rants. And music.

What stops this from being a great film as opposed to a good one is it's just fat too long. If it ended 30 mins earlier than it does most people would have been happy. But instead there's two additional music scenes that really add nothing. It's also a fairly obvious plot.

Spikes best movies were his earliest ones even if his newer movies are technically better. But they certainly don't carry the same weight. Must be the fact the current culture simply isn't as good as it was in the 80s.

Expected more from Spike Lee. Very misfitting score that belonged in a Star Wars type film. We don't need loud distracting music over every scene. The double edited shots were also distracting and over done. Bad acting from many of the supporting cast. Slow start, could have easily tightened the edit. This film didn't seem to know what it was. No clear vision. A little preachy. And a kind of dull story line with no twist!

Spike Lee has always been the perfect definition of a hit or miss as he has made some great movies like Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, She's Gotta Have It, Jungle Fever, and so on. At the same time, he has made some pretty awful movies, particular Oldboy (2013) and Miracle at St. Anna. With his latest film, based on a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's classic "High and Low", it falls quite flat and rough.

For starters, there are some nice camerawork that helps presents the atmosphere and environment. Creating the vibe and energy of the city of New York. Lee does offer some fresh themes and concepts about it's characters, writing, and the political aspects, however it all feels confused, misplaced, and messy. The writing feels as if this new reinterpretation didn't offer anything special or interesting to the original and book, as if Lee confuses with what he wants to present and display. Alongside with some laughable bad dialogue, the performances are a mix bag. Denzel Washington does provide his best as his energy and personality is good. However some of the other performances are honestly pretty bad, particularly Ilfenesh Hadera. Almost as if the performances are TV levels of acting or being intentionally awful.

The production designs and structure feels cheap and dated, almost as if the movie is having a Hallmark and Lifetime approach. The musical score is one of the worst aspects about this movie as it's presentation, sounding, and how the music is used is all over the place, messy, and atrocious. Regarding pacing, it drags, as the pacing remains uneven and it's first and second act really struggles. However, around it's third act, it does pick up with some interesting and good thrilling moments.

I'm honestly kind of surprised with the positive reviews because audiences and critics have been raving this reinterpretation, however I found it to be tedious and frustrating. I do appreciate it isn't as disgraceful as Lee's remake of "Oldboy" (which I'm glad to hear he has since disowned the movie). However, no matter what, it's pretty clear that it's best to stay away from remaking classics because it ain't worth it.

Worth a watch especially if you're African American. A lot of the jokes and writing are geared towards our specific culture and will be more relatable/relevant to us. I appreciated the message at the end of the film about modern day rap music and rap culture. Mostly very strong cast except for Pam, if I'm being honest she was the only weak link and the editing didn't do her any favors. Speaking of editing the editing could have been much better, the writing could have been way better he needed a team of people to review his script, star directors like spike lee get way too much creative freedom and aren't held accountable enough for subpar work in my opinion. ASAP Rocky did a beautiful job he had a very complex and real character that could have easily fallen into a stereotypical cliched performance but he brought a lot of humanity to it. Cinematography was okay. Production design looked very VFX even the view from the penthouse looked like a iPad screen. Denzel did what he was supposed to do. He's a always a joy to watch but he deserved a better script and production quality. Overall not bad. But I wouldn't recommend paying money for it in theatres. Wait till it streams.

Denzell Washington is a very successful music producer with, as he calls it, "The best ears in the business". He sold off a piece of his corporation a few years back and lives an opulent lifestyle. But the changed economics of the music business, a company sniffing around to buy the company from under him, and a desire to be more of a producer than a businessman have worn on him. He arranges for a loan to buy a block of shares that will give him control. And then his son is kidnapped.

Many of you will recognize this as a remake of Kurosawa's Tengoku to jigoku aka High and Low. As a result, the first big plot twist did not surprise me. What did surprise me was Spike Lee's expansion, not only of the divide between the highest and lowest wealth in the movie -- although that was by making Washington so very rich -- as the expansion of the ending. Several of Kurosawa's movies seem to end abruptly to me, pointlessly so: an ending that shocks rather than concludes. That is, undoubtedly, a cultural difference. But Lee comes down on my side, and with equally stern cultural self-criticism. In doing so, he demonstrates this is a sturdy story, both in terms of its thriller/kidnapping plot and in terms of how societies view art, money, and privilege.