Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest reimagines Kurosawa’s High and Low, with Denzel Washington leading a tense kidnapping thriller in New York City.

The strangest development saga of any movie this summer includes A-list writers and directors (Mamet, Scorsese) coming and going, and studios spending millions trying to hone the right script. Then, a young producer and first-time screenwriter cracked the code and got Denzel Washington's attention.

Spike Lee reteams with Denzel Washington for the fifth time in “Highest 2 Lowest.” The film is a new riff on Kurosawa's “High and Low,” set in modern-day New York around a music mogul's moral dilemma.