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” takes some time to find its groove. But once it does, when the film leaves the high rises and puts its feet on the New York pavement, it really sings. A reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller “High and Low,