In terms of style, Lee leaves no holds barred. After the infamy of his remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, it’s easy to understand why you’d go into Highest 2 Lowest expecting the worst. However, where Oldboy failed by being too paint-by-numbers, Highest 2 Lowest succeeds by allowing Spike Lee to be himself to the most unhinged, unrestrained, enjoyable degree. At one point, a Yankees fan on the subway stands directly in front of the camera and screams “Boston sucks!” into it three times. Home-video footage of the King family, shot on what appears to be Super 8 film, is a recurring segue for scene transition. The personality audiences have come to love from Lee’s films is here in spades, and it’s digging its heels in to remind us that in a world where creative bankruptcy like generative AI is rampant, he’s not going anywhere. Lee is as creative now as he was during his directorial debut (She’s Gotta Have It), and he refuses to allow his voice to be stifled by an industry landscape that appears to be changing for the worse.

Highest 2 Lowest wears many hats, but beneath all of them is a Yankees cap that can never be removed. It’s a love letter to a culture that has persisted across generations, and to a community whose torch Spike Lee is still carrying. Brooklyn has been aggressively gentrified over the years, something the film makes a point to showcase (“All money ain’t good money”). But, as we see through the joy music brings characters even at their lowest moments, the spirit of a community is not so easily erased. Like Lee’s creative and cultural power, the heart of Brooklyn’s community isn’t going anywhere.