Del cielo al infierno

Spike Lee has always been the perfect definition of a hit or miss as he has made some great movies like Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, She's Gotta Have It, Jungle Fever, and so on. At the same time, he has made some pretty awful movies, particular Oldboy (2013) and Miracle at St. Anna. With his latest film, based on a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's classic "High and Low", it falls quite flat and rough.

For starters, there are some nice camerawork that helps presents the atmosphere and environment. Creating the vibe and energy of the city of New York. Lee does offer some fresh themes and concepts about it's characters, writing, and the political aspects, however it all feels confused, misplaced, and messy. The writing feels as if this new reinterpretation didn't offer anything special or interesting to the original and book, as if Lee confuses with what he wants to present and display. Alongside with some laughable bad dialogue, the performances are a mix bag. Denzel Washington does provide his best as his energy and personality is good. However some of the other performances are honestly pretty bad, particularly Ilfenesh Hadera. Almost as if the performances are TV levels of acting or being intentionally awful.

The production designs and structure feels cheap and dated, almost as if the movie is having a Hallmark and Lifetime approach. The musical score is one of the worst aspects about this movie as it's presentation, sounding, and how the music is used is all over the place, messy, and atrocious. Regarding pacing, it drags, as the pacing remains uneven and it's first and second act really struggles. However, around it's third act, it does pick up with some interesting and good thrilling moments.

I'm honestly kind of surprised with the positive reviews because audiences and critics have been raving this reinterpretation, however I found it to be tedious and frustrating. I do appreciate it isn't as disgraceful as Lee's remake of "Oldboy" (which I'm glad to hear he has since disowned the movie). However, no matter what, it's pretty clear that it's best to stay away from remaking classics because it ain't worth it.

I don't know if the intention was to make this movie feel like a soap opera, but unfortunately that's exactly how it played out. The pacing was uneven, the dialogue felt forced, and the story lacked real depth. The characters came across as flat and unconvincing, which left me very disappointed overall.

I was wondering why a Spike Lee/DenzelWashington film was being released with so little fanfare. And then I finally saw the movie. What a stinker.

How bad?

1) Bad dialogue that seems straight from a crappy Law and Order episode.

2) Bad acting from most of the supporting cast. The trio that play the cops are totally unbelievable, with a special call out to the atrocious acting of Dean Winters. He should stick to his Allstate commercials.

3) Bad music. Why didn't Spike hire his trusted composer Terence Blanchard? Instead he went with music that sounded like it came from a bad 1990's drama.

4) Bad editing. Some really strange choices made, including over edited (or badly directed) dialogue scenes and 2 out of nowhere arbitrary wipes. And nothing brings out tension in a paying the ransom scene than cutting away to musical moments from the Puerto Rican parade.

Just awful.

I've got to say, I was pretty disappointed with "Highest 2 Lowest." I came in with high hopes, but the plot just felt all over the place. It's like the film tried to juggle too many stories at once without giving any of them the attention they deserved. As a result, none of the individual character arcs felt complete, and it was hard to get invested in what was happening.

The editing, which is usually a strength for Spike Lee, felt jarring this time around, jumping from one thread to another before you could really settle in.

As for whether it's worth watching, I'd say probably not. For me, the film's biggest issue is its narrative cohesion. It felt like a collection of interesting scenes that never quite came together to form a meaningful whole. While the performances were solid, the lack of a clear, focused story made it a bit of a tough watch.

The music and the soundtrack makes this an almost unwatchable movie.

Too long.

The secondary roles are poorly acted.

The wife is not believable.

The plot is stretched and makes no sense.

The pacing is slow and hard to digest.

Missed opportunity to make a good movie.

Some scenes drag too long just for the sake of it.