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.

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.