Highest 2 Lowest

We have to go into this knowing Spike Lee is not Quentin Tarantino. Don't expect a revolutionary generational film. This is a good movie about a music mogul in today's music industry. The score could have been better. Some parts I felt the music didn't match the vibe of the scene. The acting for some characters is sub par (the white cop) but I really liked the storyline. Asap Rocky plays the protagonist. The dialogue between him and Denzel Washington is excellent. The movie pays a lot of homage to NYC culture. This is good but could have been better with a proper score and a few upgrades when it came to certain actors.

This was a "we made it" film. Spike Lee, Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright are far from needing to prove their filmmaking and acting chops, so this was a love letter to New York, Brooklyn and Black art. It's a timely representation of Black men building from the ground up, growing together and being a bridge to the young men (A$AP Rocky) who aspire to become them. The plot fell flat for me, because more could've been done with the characters, especially Jeffrey Wright's role. I watched and became more engrossed in the art collection than the story itself.

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 one of his best films ever in Highest 2 Lowest, a traditional police procedural but intellectually elevated by being based on a masterful 1963 Akira Kurasawa ransom film, High and Low, with the same trajectory to classic as the adaptation of Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai into The Magnificent Seven. Highest 2 Lowest is one of the best movies of the year and one of the top crime movies of all time.

Music mogul David Kin (Denzel Washington) is threatened to be personally and professionally dethroned by the kidnapping of his son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph), by criminals unknown until later. It is revelatory to see the police navigate kidnapping with the social-media challenges that attack the high-profile dad for the way he deals with the demands of the crooks, the public, and morality.

Lee has a field day playing the racial tensions between the races, including this time Puerto Rico and Cuba and who knows how many others in the biggest melting pot ion the world. Lee makes the conflicts lyrical with music that inspires community and love.

The love letter to New York by cinematographer Matthew Libatique is beautiful as well as complementary to the complex plot and the NY vision usually accompanying a Lee movie. The beautiful landscape belies the ugly proceedings as King is morally challenged by a twist in which he becomes responsible for the ransom of a child not his own. It's a personally and publicly Hobson's choice that Denzel handles with Oscar-nominating dexterity.

Oscar-worthy is his face off with the kidnapper. The rapping motif is jaw-droppingly expert and electrifying. Denzel carries it off with the cool mastering that makes him one of the top actors of his generation.

In a logical comparison with Michael Douglas's Gordon Gekko of Wall Street, Denzel's King is less impressive if only for the wide range Douglas's script gives, yet the studio rapper scene in Higher is a tour de force for Denzel. Look for this outstanding drama on Apple TV+. Just don't miss Highest 2 Lowest.

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.