Reuniting with his longtime leading man Denzel Washington and remaking an Akira Kurosawa crime classic, Lee captures energy and moral complexity, sometimes wildly.

Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” takes some time to find its groove. But once it does, when the film leaves the high rises and puts its feet on the New York pavement, it really sings. A reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller “High and Low,

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when Akira Kurosawa hasn’t been alive for 27 years to be flattered, Spike Lee and Alan Fox end up only flattering themselves with 'Highest 2 Lowest'.