Why you can trust usWe independently evaluate the products we review. When you buy via links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read more about how we vet products and deals. Denzel Washington in Highest 2 Lowest. (David Lee/A24/Courtesy Everett CollectionHello, Yahoo readers! My name is Brett Arnold, film critic and longtime Yahoo editor, and I'm back with another edition of Trust Me, I Watch Everything.
Two very different movies hit theaters this weekend, and I think both are worth seeing on the big screen - the latest work from prolific filmmaker Spike Lee, Highest 2 Lowest, starring frequent collaborator Denzel Washington, and Bob Odenkirk's better-than-the-first-one action-comedy sequel Nobody 2.
At home, Superman soars from the cineplex to your couch, where you can sit comfortably and rent or buy it. You can also check out Eddington, the polarizing COVID-era satire-slash-thriller that defies genre definition.
AdvertisementAdvertisementOn streaming services that you're already shelling out your hard-earned cash for each month, Sharp Corner and Night Always Comes make my shortlist of recommendations. But wait, there's more!Read on, because there's something here for everyone!What to watch in theatersMovies newly available to rent or buyMovies newly available on streaming services you may already have🎥 What to watch in theatersMy recommendation: Highest 2 LowestWhy you should watch it: The fifth collaboration between Spike Lee and Denzel Washington is a remake, or rather, more of a reimagining, of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa's 1963 classic High and Low. It's also a love letter to New York City, as Lee is wont to do, opening with an asynchronous yet beautiful rendition of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" from Oklahoma blaring over swooping images of skyscrapers and landmarks.
AdvertisementAdvertisementIf you're familiar with the original work, it unfolds similarly until it doesn't, at which point it flourishes into an electric and singular Spike Lee joint that is so exciting and so undeniably his own, it's nearly impossible for fans to keep from grinning as they watch.
Washington plays David King, a best-in-his-field record company executive who is targeted in a kidnapping plot when a mysterious individual takes who he thinks is King's son and demands $17.5 million for his safe return. As in the Kurosawa masterpiece, the kidnappers accidentally take the wrong boy, nabbing the son of King's chauffeur and confidant Paul (Jeffrey Wright). The moral dilemma over whether King should pay the ransom for somebody else's kid, decimating his entire business and life in the process, is as compelling as ever. In case you haven't seen the original, I won't say any more here, as discovering this story in real time is a treat.
An even greater delight is watching Lee make it entirely his own in the back half as the film becomes more of an exhilarating revenge thriller. There's a crackerjack centerpiece sequence late in the film, an elaborate chase through an active NYC subway train on the way to Yankee Stadium on the same day of as the Puerto Rican Day Parade, that is as tightly constructed and rousing as anything Lee's ever done. Rapper A$AP Rocky also holds his own performing against the imposing and totemic Washington, and their scenes together are among the best in the movie.
Highest 2 Lowest is an exemplary "late style" work - that is, a film made late in a director's career that often feels like it's commenting on the filmmaker's past art and legacy. It's clear that Lee sees King as a stand-in for himself, made evident via dialogue about how much King cares about supporting young Black artists. It's a movie about an industry titan asking himself, "Am I losing my edge in the modern world?" By the end of the movie, it's clear the answer is a definitive brushing off of the idea entirely, as Lee shows off in the finale, suggesting "nah, I'm the king, and I've still got soul."AdvertisementAdvertisementWhat other critics are saying: Everybody loves it! Stephanie Zacharek of Time says that it "fulfills every expectation you might want from a modern Spike Lee movie." The Associated Press's Lindsey Bahr writes that it "may not reach the heights of some of Lee's best films, but it's the kind film that makes you hope Lee and Washington have more to make together."How to watch: Highest 2 Lowest is now playing in select theaters ahead of its Apple TV+ debut on September 5.
Find ticketsBonus recommendation: Nobody 2Why you should watch it: It's rare that a sequel improves upon its original, but in the case of Nobody 2, everything is kicked up a notch in all the right ways.
AdvertisementAdvertisementBeloved character actor Bob Odenkirk returns in the action-comedy sequel that sees his character Hutch attempting to vacation with his family only to get caught up in a series of increasingly satisfying and violent set pieces. The plot is as barely there, but in a commendable way: it gets in, gets out and doesn't waste any of our time.