In Review: 'Highest 2 Lowest,' 'Nobody 2'

Highest 2 Lowest
Dir. Spike Lee
133 min.

Four of the last six Spike Lee films have been either straight remakes of past classics or highly influenced by them: 2013’s Oldboy attempted an Americanization of Park Chan-wook’s operatic thriller; 2014’s Da Sweet Blood of Jesus was a scrappy, Kickstarter-funded updating of the 1973 vampire film Ganja and Hess; 2020’s Da 5 Bloods maps a Treasure of the Sierra Madre plot onto a story of Black Vietnam War veterans; and now the new Highest 2 Lowest brings Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 procedural High and Low to modern-day New York City. Perhaps the trend has been Lee’s concession to certain commercial realities around IP, but it’s been fascinating to watch him work his sensibility around someone else’s material. It hasn’t always been a great fit—the ornate plot mechanics of Oldboy did not play to his strengths—but Lee is the rare director with an unmistakable signature. 

Highest 2 Lowest would seem to be the perfect match. Transferring Kurosawa’s bifurcated neo-noir, based on Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom, from Yokohama, Japan to New York City gives Lee the opportunity to explore the strata of city life, from the penthouse to the streets. Yet the film is the odd case where one piece of the story so far exceeds the other that it’s almost shocking that a single person directed it, even if there’s no doubt Lee is responsible for both halves. The Jekyll/Hyde quality of Highest 2 Lowest is deliberate, of course, because Lee wants the intrigue in the boardroom and sky rise perch of a music mogul to feel different from the melting-pot vibrancy of the city as all New Yorkers experience it. You just have to wait out one to get to the other. 

In their fifth collaboration together, Lee casts a particularly lively Denzel Washington as David King, the legendary “golden-eared” head of Stackin’ Hits, a record label that once ruled the industry but has lately edged toward obsolescence. As a rival prepares to buy the company for a princely sum, King starts feeling regret about selling and starts to put together his own money to regain control of it. That plan is upended, however, when he gets a call from a kidnapper who’s holding his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) for a $17.5 million ransom. The plot thickens, however, when it’s revealed that the kidnapper has nabbed the wrong kid and instead has Trey’s best friend Kyle (Elijah Wright), the son of King’s long-time chauffeur Paul (Jeffrey Wright). The terms of the deal are not adjusted: The caller still wants the $17.5 million, figuring that King will not want Kyle’s blood on his hands. 

Much of the first hour of Highest 2 Lowest takes place in King’s beautiful high-rise apartment, where the police are huddling together with him, his wife Pam (Ilfenesh Hadera), and Paul to figure out the right course of action. But starting with the Kings’ weirdly blasé reaction to the kidnapping—you’d think there was a sticking point in negotiations for Stackin’ Hits, not an only child in danger—this entire section of the film is stilted and inert, with Howard Drossin’s wall-to-wall score doing too much work to prop up the emotions. Nothing about the situation rings true, especially a long stretch where King ruminates callously over whether to spend the money to save another man’s child. It does some damage to the film as a morality tale, too, because he seems more persuaded by the possibility of reputational damage than the fate of a close family friend. 

And then, like a snap of the thumb, Highest 2 Lowest takes off. Once King and the authorities get the money together and storm the subway for a tense rendezvous with the kidnapper, Lee does some of the most exciting work of his career. Between a train loaded with chanting Yankees fans and a crucial stop in the middle of a Puerto Rican Day celebration, the natural tension of the money exchange is elevated into a snapshot of New York at its most charged and joyous, which creates a compelling push-and-pull tension. This section alone will be a major exhibit in the case for Lee as the greatest New York filmmaker, even though getting to it might be a slog. 

The final act shifts gears again once A$AP Rocky comes onto the scene as the kidnapper and lights up the screen with his own dark magnetism. The inevitable showdown between him and Washington is a high-level clash of performance styles as well as another wrinkle in Lee’s grand design. Highest 2 Lowest is the film of an aging auteur, represented here by a restless mogul who’s being pushed into retirement but feels like he has something else to give. One half makes you worry the old guy’s lost his touch and the other proves the old guy’s still got it. Looking at the scorecard, Lee wins here by split decision. — Scott Tobias  

Highest 2 Lowest opens in limited release tonight. It starts streaming on Apple TV+ on September 5th. (See it projected if you can.)

Nobody 2
Dir. Timo Tjahjanto
89 min.

It’s hard to pull off the same magic trick twice. Much, really most, of the appeal of the 2021 film Nobody came from the casting of Bob Odenkirk, an actor previously not known for skilled asskickery. The first time around, Odenkirk looked like an unlikely lead for an action movie, even for those unfamiliar with his comedy career or his work on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. If you want somebody to play the last guy you’d suspect could take out a whole bus full of oversized toughs, he’s the perfect choice. Nonetheless, Nobody cast him as Hutch Mansell (A+ name), a one-time “auditor” for unnamed government agencies who, as the film opened, had attempted to fade into a bland suburban existence as a family man with a go-nowhere job. By film’s end, however, he resumed “auditing” with great enthusiasm.

Directed by Ilya Naishuller from a script by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad, Nobody stays close to the John Wick mold, down to a vision of the world controlled by colorful criminal cartel and deadly, faceless forces. But where the John Wick series’ action setpieces play like elaborate prog rock numbers filled with changing tones and shifting rhythms, Naishuller seemingly modeled Nobody’s action scenes after pounding metal songs. As Hutch, Odenkirk fought hard and fast. It wasn’t pretty but it could be pretty thrilling. Nobody might ultimately have been just an above average action film, but the elements that gave it an edge were hard to forget.

They also prove tough to recreate in Nobody 2, along with any sense of surprise at the sight of Saul Goodman crippling enemies with a flurry of pounding blows. Naishuller’s direction could be overbearing at times, but at least it had flair. New director Timo Tjahjanto appears to be auditioning to helm cookie-cutter Netflix actioners. The action comes loud and fast but even the film’s novel setting—a Wisconsin Dells-like tourist trap—can’t make it feel like beats you’ve seen a hundred times before or more. They feel as if as much thought has been put in them as in crafting the film’s title.

That Hutch’s story didn’t really have anywhere to go after the first film doesn’t help either. Where previously his relationship with his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) and kids Brady (Gage Munroe) and Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) suffered because his life had become too dull, now they suffer because it’s become too exciting. Paying off the debt created by defeating the Russian mobsters in the first film has kept him busy while also grinding him down. Hutch’s solution: a vacation to the one place he happily remembers from his childhood, a waterpark nestled in the heart of Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the heart of Wisconsin turns out to be a hotbed of criminal activity that can be traced back to a gangster named Lendina (Sharon Stone, having a great time). Also on hand: Hutch’s dad (Christopher Lloyd) and brother Harry (RZA), both returning from the first movie.

That sounds like a promising set-up. So does, in bare description, a booby trap-filled theme park climax that plays like a cross between Home Alone and the Richard Stark novel Slayground. Unfortunately, Nobody 2 sheds both the novelty value and the style that set the original film apart. That leaves Odenkirk and the rest of the talented cast struggling to breathe some life into material that refuses to stir. Any audit of this film will quickly discover it operates at a loss. —Keith Phipps

Nobody 2 splashes into theaters tonight.