Yet another case of: “Never ask yourself ‘How bad could it be?’ “ For, on the surface, Highest 2 Lowest has a great deal going for it: A Spike Lee joint … based on an Akira Kurosawa film (High and Low) … Starring Denzel Washington and recent Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright. Seriously, how bad could it be?
Never ask. Just never ask.
While not as bad as you’re picturing, Highest 2 Lowest felt very long, which is especially curious because of the kidnapping. Geez, Spike, how hard is it to make ransom exciting? But I’m getting ahead of myself. David King (Washington) is the founder and genius behind Stackin’ Hits Records. His success at turning raw talent into stardom has left a legacy where both his home AND his office have corner balconies overlooking bridges coming into Manhattan. He has a ton of money and wants to use it to buy out his partner and own the business.
And then his son gets kidnapped.
Well, there goes that deal.
Unfortunately, yes, this is one of those films in which we measure money against souls. What exactly is the price of greed? We get a better look when King’s son Trey makes his way home; the kidnappers took the wrong kid. The stolen kid is the son of King’s driver, Paul (Wright). King isn’t as happy about paying a ransom for Paul’s son. Hmmmmm.
I’m not a fan of moral dilemmas along these lines. And I’m even less happy with the presentation. Denzel Washington is, perhaps, my favorite actor to watch and here you’ve made him look like a soul-less piece of crap. The kidnapee is King’s godson and Trey’s best friend. How do you look
your son, your wife, your friends, your well-wishers in the eye ever again when you come off so callous?
This leads to a better question: Why would Denzel Washington, an established A-lister, choose a script where he’s not the villain, but he sure ain’t no hero neither? That is answered for us later in the film.
Highest 2 Lowest is a bit of a puzzle; it’s a film that sure looks like it ought to be good, but it’s kinda dull and listless while we impatiently await David King doing the right thing. When you make such a film about a music mogul and you give speaking roles to musicians like A$AP Rocky, Aiyana-Lee, and Destiny Frasqueri, you clearly have a musical vision that you want to present to an audience … and yet, the soundtrack is fairly generic and dull until we get to the end of the picture when we let stars shine because the plot has fizzled. Bottom line is this film should have been better, and if it had been, it would have had a decent studio run, not three weeks of hide-and-go-release, then straight to Apple TV.
There once was a shrewd music King
Who made a fortune while doing his thing
But they kidnapped his son
Oops, got the wrong one
And now his pocketbook seems to lack string
Rated R, 133 Minutes
Director: Spike Lee
Writer: Evan Hunter, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni
Genre: Check out MY music
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: A$AP Rocky fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Police procedural fans
