It’s difficult not to notice that somewhere in HIGHEST 2 LOWEST is a compelling and highly creative film that wants to examine the metrics of success (and failure), the true value of art, and the burdens of “fatherhood” in all of its meanings. When that film surfaces, Spike Lee’s direction is bold, if not inspired, and the experience can dazzle with its flights of pure cinema. Everything works in these passages: all the reckless, exhilarating movement, the quirky but fun editing, and the musical choices that add vibrancy every step of the way.
Unfortunately, such moments probably add up to 20-25 minutes of the two-hour runtime. The remainder is spent slogging through the necessary bits of connective tissue to get to the next set piece, which can be either an action sequence or an extended exchange of bristling dialogue. The fact that these police procedural and domestic/business drama scenes, almost all of which are intruded upon by the score’s syrupy piano tinklings and harp pluckings, feel transitional is perhaps the first sign of trouble. Typically, these would be considered, well, the plot, and an attempt would be made to render them gripping, real, or original. Maybe all three. No such intentions surface in Alan Fox’s script, however, and apparently Lee has no problem with that. It’s hard to tell if he simply doesn’t care as much about these elements of his narrative or if feels that the audience will tolerate whatever mix of warmed-over tropes and tired character types is necessary to prop up the ostensible spine of this would-be thriller. His true passions seem to involve celebrating Black music (both aesthetically and culturally), letting Denzel be Denzel, and offering up some rather obvious social commentary on media and celebrity.
Still, with these ingredients an idiosyncratic yet entertaining and satisfying crime drama could certainly be crafted. After all, Lee used similar pieces in terms of character study, historical observation, and genre elements when he made the winning BLACKKKLANSMAN. But between Fox, Lee, and the film’s two editors, no one here seems to care much about the actual crime in this crime drama. That the kidnapping features the most absurd ransom drop in history, predicated on all sorts of coincidences of timing and positioning, is not even the issue; it represents an audacious recasting of the original drop in HIGH AND LOW, and at least shows signs of ambition and flare. The rest of the kidnapping is conveyed with a touch that, as with the relationships within the central family, alternates between bland and lazy. When Washington’s character comes up with a legitimate lead on the kidnapper, the cops dismiss it for no good reason; this would be fine except there’s no convincing reason for why they’d be so stubbornly close-minded, especially as there’s an entire team of investigators, one of whom could easily look into this new possibility given that there are no other promising leads. Similarly, one of the kidnapper’s minions is apprehended at the end of the drop, but we’re never shown what an interrogation of him yields, and no one even mentions it as an offscreen development.
Instead, it’s all hand-waving and hoping the audience won’t expect the same level of attention to detail that one gets from even the most generic of TV cop shows. Everything then takes on an unreal, almost artificial, feel—which also would be fine if Lee wanted to lean into this, and perhaps playfully wink at the audience. Think of how the incompetent cops are portrayed in Altman’s THE PLAYER. But Lee wants to take chances in only some areas, playing it safe the rest of the time. The kidnap victim is briefly shown duct-taped with layers of makeup bruises in a kind of insincere hat-tip to a grittier style of New York movie that HIGHEST 2 LOWEST not only isn’t, but isn’t even trying to be. That said, even such a clash of styles and tones could very well have been exploited to interesting ends, but Lee consistently opts for the easier, more Hollywood approach, as if biding his time until inspiration strikes again and he can next indulge in a flight of fancy.
The end result is a frustrating mish-mosh of astonishing peaks and dismally clichéd valleys that is sadly reflected in the film’s title.
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