Highest 2 Lowest Reviews

Unfortunately not it…

I was extremely excited, Denzel, Jeffrey, and ASAP? And it was directed by Spike Lee??? A dream come true.

Unfortunately the message of the movie and the story overall get tainted by some extremely questionable editing, extremely choppy and at times confusing, I’m not saying there is a formula that he has to follow but damn… a legend like spike Lee would sure know how his movie is supposed to be edited. Unfortunately, editing ties in directly with the next problem.

Pace, it was just off, it picked up better in the second half, but that first hour, yeesh, not enough to bully you out the film, but enough to make you question it.

Another problem was definitely the dialogue, cheesy, it seemed like the writer (which is not Spike Lee) was trying to sound super realistic and relatable, when it just fell short and didn’t work, just overall a poor screenplay.

And I don’t know how this happened, since Jeffrey Wright and Denzel are in my tops, but the acting was off, it’s not necessarily their fault, we already know that the writing wasn’t the best but if it doesn’t fall under writing, it falls under Spike, which again, seems just odd.

This is just me though, let me know what you guys think, maybe change my mind on a couple of things.

Again, I’m just confused that this was directed by Spike and it fell short for me.

Btw, loved Rocky’s tracks.

7.3/10 Had so much potential to be movie of the year. Great concept and story but so poorly done. Spike Lee took the easy way out everytime directing wise. Some scenes he’d just leave the same camera angle for five minutes for no reason. So many jump cuts at first I thought it was a mistake but it was clearly intentional because there were so many times where mid sentence it would be a jump cut. Denzel Washington was playing this character for the first part of the movie and then all of a sudden at one point he just morphed back into Denzel Washington and forgot to play his character. Again this had elements of an incredible movie but the jump cuts and the random music playing during scenes was tough to watch. During a lot of the scenes it felt like he just hit shuffle and played a random song

honestly was expecting way more.

the trailer 100% oversold me.

the beginning felt very odd & sloppy.

unnecessary amounts of classical music slapped literally all over the dialogue. felt like i was watching a classical concert rather than a movie. it added no feeling to the film whatsoever. whoever made the call should get fired lmao.

the editing was off too, all the hanshakes and hugs at the gym were not in sync jumping from cameras. if it was intentional it didn’t work tbh.

the metro scene color pallet threw me off too. went from plain apple lut to a halation film look back and forth. i was hella confused.

then we finally see a$ap which honestly was the highlight of the film. it started getting way more interesting mid movie heading to the climax.

“truncks” is such a fire track. had me head bobbing in the theater lmfao.

loved that little music vid at the end too haha.

denzel washington absolutely nailed his role. it’s always great watching him act.

have very mixed feelings about this one. it hit, but flopped at the same time idk.

definitely wouldn’t rewatch tho.

7 / 10

Disclaimer: I stopped watching at 40 minutes, but the combination of poor acting/direction, weird editing choices, and bland script make me doubtful it improves drastically over the rest of the runtime
You’ve got heavy hitters like Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright but it feels like it’s their first time in front of a camera; Then there’s this weird editing choice of showing the same action from like 3 different angles in a row (I don’t need to see Denzel dap up the basketball coach from the front, side, and back). Wouldn’t recommend unless you’ve watched every other movie on apple tv

The premise sounded really good, but I found it mostly lackluster. There was hardly any tension, and little character development. Even the score of the film did not feel like it fit with the overall tone of the film. This is definitely not one of Spike’s best.

yo, Spike Lee did his thing with this. Music on point, camera work top tier. And the cast was put together so well.

Really good remix of the original. Same story, same topics of greed and human nature but new themes; Lee ponders his changing industry (music as a surrogate for film) and a changing world. His style verges on experimental; great performances from all, especially Jeffrey Wright.

I have never questioned the artistry of Spike Lee and this film gives me no reason to start! As someone who is an avid student of Lee’s, this shows that he’s still got the juice in the tank to deliver high quality films! Full review here: https://boxd.it/aLLh5J

New to Spike Lee films, but this one didn’t quite resonate. I found the score to be disastrous and out of tune with the existing tonal shifts. However there were a lot of moments where it shined. The NYC energy, the themes, and it was creatively daring.

6

The only Spike Lee film that I can honestly say I didn't enjoy. I was really looking forward to it after watching the trailer and seeing the cast, but it ended up being a complete disappointment. The music, writing, pacing, and directing all fell short. Even a strong cast couldn't redeem it for me. I was hoping for a twist at the end that would make it worthwhile, but once again, it just let me down.

Denzel carried this movie. Him and Jeffery Wright were a great duo throughout the film.
Some really great scenes and some really good acting. Some things fell flat and were predictable but there were some twists and turns I didn’t see coming. Some odd music choices but overall the score did not take me out of the movie.

probably the worst DW film I've seen, it dribbles on from the get go and goes nowhere for the full film, no twists no highs or lows.Very disappointed.

The soundtrack alone makes this movie almost unbearable.

The score really killed me

This movie was great! Denzel Washington does a fantastic job as to the other people involved in this movie. I even enjoyed the music and was pleased with this movie.

Wow, surprisingly terrible. Score was weird and distracting, dialogue cheesy and not “spike Lee” ish at all. Turned off after 15 minutes

Fuck yeah. My first theatrical Spike Lee joint. My only gripe was the movies score which is never smtn i have ever complained ab in a movie before 8.5/10

(It came out August 15th!) I was instantly hooked from the opening music. And I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen.

I was excited to watch this movie for the longest time since it was produced by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington. The storyline was good and overall was an enjoyable movie. It just felt the movie was rushed. Plus Asap Rocky was barely in the movie until end.