Highest 2 Lowest: Spike Lee Reunion with NYC and Denzel Washington Yields Mixed Results

By Karen Gordon

Rating: B-

I grew up with Spike Lee films. That’s not true in terms of my chronological age, but true to my movie appreciation age.

I was already a full-on adult when I saw Do The Right Thing, and it was pivotal for me in many ways. I circled back to She’s Gotta Have It and went from there. Lee is also one of the great New York film directors bringing that city — and a part of it that I didn't know well — to vibrant life on the screen. As someone with a big crush on NYC, I loved that aspect of his films.

Lee’s movies don’t always land for me, but I’m always excited to see what he’s up to, what’s on his mind. That’s true of Highest 2 Lowest, his first New York-based film in more than a decade, and his fifth with Denzel Washington. The pleasure of spending some time with Lee and watching Washington was undermined by a film that too often felt emotionally detached.

It’s inspired by the 1963 crime thriller High and Low by the Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, which is loosely based on Ed McBain’s novel, King’s Ransom.

The film is set-in modern-day Manhattan. Washington stars as David King (if you’re looking for biblical references there you go), a music industry mogul who in 20 years has built his company Stackin’ Hit Records into a major success and given him the reputation of having “the best ears in the business.”

That success has brought him a lavish lifestyle — a gorgeous, art-filled penthouse, a house in Sag Harbor, a refined, beautiful wife Pam (Ilfenish Hadera) who does charity work and makes major donations to favourite charities. The two have a teenaged son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) with whom they have a loving relationship.

All of this has brought him to the point where he’s thinking about cashing out. The company is finalizing a merger deal. But behind his big smile and reassuring manner, he’s not at ease with it. The money is appealing. His team and the board like it, but King is a music man, and he’s finding how much that still matters to him.

King is reluctant to let the company he lovingly built go to an entity that he worries will shift direction away from his vision. So, what’s the right path: legacy over money? Or money and letting go?

While he’s debating that, he gets a disturbing phone call. A kidnapper has Trey and wants $17.5 million in ransom. Police are called and set up a command post in his dining room. But it turns out there’s been a mix up.

The kidnappers grabbed the wrong boy. They have Trey’s best friend Kyle (Elijah Wright), who is the son of David’s driver Paul (Jeffrey Wright). Paul and David are childhood friends whose lives have gone in opposite directions. David is a big deal. Paul struggled and has done time in jail. There’s familiarity in their relationship, and Paul hovers a lot, but they don’t feel like equals.

Now King has a dilemma. The ransom money would wipe him out personally and affect his plan to reject the merger and keep his company. Now that it’s not his son, King must contemplate what he wants to do. Will he pay that massive ransom for another man's son?

The film plays around with his dilemma, giving Washington a chance to lean into his character’s inner battles before shifting into an action film. Washington is a fine actor and a powerful one and has a natural intensity that can occasionally overpower the material. Lee gives him plenty of space to explore pieces of his character’s complex reactions to what’s going on, including a dive into his more ruthless side, but never lets it get too much.

There’s emotion roiling under David’s skin, but strangely that doesn’t add up to a lot of emotional connection with the other characters. I waited a long time before I felt that what was happening on camera made me feel that people were connecting in a real way. Those moments of connection are there, but fleeting.

Another element that adds to a sense of flatness are the sets and settings. Not that they’re bad. In fact, the film is art directed to within an inch of its life. But nothing feels remotely lived in.

Highest 2 Lowest has a range of tones, sometimes intense, sometimes not intense enough. The film’s second half is livelier. It becomes a thriller, taking us through the streets and subways of New York, and Lee has a lot of fun with it. There’s a train full of boisterous Yankees fans on their way to a game against the Boston Red Sox.

Above ground the police are monitoring things on the streets of New York, and must deal with some of that chaos, as the route runs them straight into the National Puerto Rico Day Parade and celebration through the South Bronx.

Rosie Perez is one of the on-stage hosts, an affectionate choice and a nice little nod to Lee fans. The celebration includes a wonderful performance by the venerable pianist and band leader Eddie Palmieri and his Salsa Orchestra, especially notable as Palmieri died recently.

The film has a thrilling old-school movie opening, with a gorgeous performance of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from the musical Oklahoma!, while the camera takes us on a tour of New York before swooping up to find Washington on the balcony of his stunning penthouse. It’s so glorious that if the film had stopped there, I would have been happy.

There’s life in Highest 2 Lowest, but I didn’t feel much of it. David King is meant to be a man driven by his passions, for music and for himself, his legacy and perhaps his family. I could see that and understood that, but I didn’t feel much of it.

Highest 2 Lowest. Written and directed by Spike Lee. Starring Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, and Ilfenish Hadera. In select theatres August 15, and on AppleTV September 5.