Reuniting with his longtime leading man Denzel Washington and remaking an Akira Kurosawa crime classic, Lee captures energy and moral complexity, sometimes wildly.

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.