Highest 2 Lowest is a new film from director Spike Lee set to release in theaters this weekend before it streams on Apple TV+ on September 5th. The film is a remake of the 1963 film, High and Low, from filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. The film stars Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, and A$AP Rocky. When a titan music mogul, widely known as having the “best ears in the business”, is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.
I genuinely don’t remember if I first watched the 1963 film before or after it was announced. I think I heard that the remake was happening before I watched it. The sole reason why I did watch it was to get through the IMDb top 250. The original is a timeless & flawless classic that holds up on my latest rewatch before watching this remake. Spike Lee really needed to prove himself after remaking Oldboy. This new remake certainly has Lee’s stamp all over it for better or worse.
I jokingly said in my Letterboxd review that this should have been called Lowest 2 Highest, because the film manages to go from its lowest point in the beginning to its highest point in the end. The film is certainly a better remake than Oldboy and Lee infuses his love of New York City in the film, but the direction Lee takes with the film results in some truly baffling creative decisions up until its third act where I felt like that was the movie I wanted.
The first act starts off quite strong before it leads into some questionable performances. Denzel Washington is terrific from start to finish. He is always a force and his working relationship with Lee allows both the actor and the director to stand out. It’s just the other performances that I didn’t fully buy into. I didn’t feel like the other characters were truly feeling the emotional impact of what was going on around them. It’s clear Lee put more of his focus into Washington more than anyone else. It says something when Wright is also not on his A-game. It feels like everyone is trying to replicate the classic – that is until the third act where that act alone doesn’t try to replicate the same third act as the original.
Then, there is the second act. I was truly baffled by every decision. I even audibly said “what” out loud while watching it, which I feel like says a lot. Every decision made feels like a parody of the original film. I even overheard other viewers after the movie saying the same thing. The way the criminals get the money literally makes no sense. Even the way someone manages to capture how it happens makes no sense. There’s even a scene where a cop handles a gun like a thug, showing he has no idea how to even be a cop. The whole sequence is ridiculous.
It’s incredibly rare where I feel like the third act of a film can ultimately save it. With everything that came before, I wasn’t only checking out, I was ready for the film to wrap up. The third act gave me everything I wanted out of the film. There’s originality to it. It’s not solely relying on the original. It does something different that helps get its themes across. Washington’s character gets more to do. A$AP Rocky even gives a standout performance. It’s truly one of the best third acts of a film this year, and I’d rather not give much more away.
Since this is a remake under a new title, I was expecting something more energetic in the first two acts. Instead, the first two acts feel confused & boring. Even when things were slower in the original, it was still exciting. The new remake has this consistent piano score through most of the film, even during some important dialogue scenes, that feel more fitting for a different movie. The score gives the film an impression that it’s supposed to be inspirational. Why not take that music out during the important scenes? It’s distracting. At least they took it out during one important dialogue scene towards the end.
While I do believe the third act gets everything right, it does have a few flaws, but not as bad as compared to the first two acts. The way Washington’s character finds out who the thief is is very coincidental. The ending does something new and has its purpose, but it can also be too much on the nose and is a byproduct of having one too many endings. The one consistent thing outside of Washington’s performance in the film is Lee’s admiration for New York City. That’s seen throughout and does help make up for the film’s flaws.
Overall, Highest 2 Lowest is a worthy and admirable remake for a classic thanks to Washington’s performance & its incredible third act. The rest of the film can be quite messy & a borderline parody. Since Lee does something different within the third act, it’s worth checking out, especially if you are a fan of Spike Lee’s work, but I still wouldn’t say it comes close to the perfection of Akira Kurosawa’s original.
VERDICT:3/5 (Good)
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