Lee impresses upon Kurosawa's landmark film with his own unique fingerprints. From the music to the cinematography, the director's voice echoes loudly and clearly — Highest 2 Lowest is unequivocally a Spike Lee joint, and cinema is far better for it.

Short version: In Spike Lee’s “reinterpretation” of Akira Kurosawa’s masterful thriller “High and Low,” Denzel Washington plays a music mogul who is targeted in a kidnapping plot while he’s trying to buy back control of his business. Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera and A$AP Rocky co-star.