Denzel Washington and New York City vie for the spotlight in Highest 2 Lowest, and in the final tally, the two battle to a draw.
Spike Lee’s latest joint—in theaters Aug. 15 on Apple TV+ Sept. 5—is equally awestruck by its leading man and its metropolitan setting, both of which exude such massive, magnetic beauty, power, and charisma that they dwarf everyone and everything else on screen.
They do the heavy lifting with regards to the director’s drama, a remixed version of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low (itself based on Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King’s Ransom). As a cinematic adaptation and a standalone ransom thriller, the film is something of a mixed bag, in large part because Lee has a pesky habit of (figuratively) interjecting himself into the action. When he prioritizes his other two titanic loves, however, he strikes a rousing nerve.
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