Why Spike Lee made is decidedly unclear.

Sure, there's the fact that he's a celebrated writer and director with no signs of slowing down — when presented with the opportunity, why not make a crime-thriller starring hitters as heavy as Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright?

And the allure is all the more appetizing for an auteur, considering the source material. This Lee joint is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 film , a mistaken-identity kidnapping drama centred around a business magnate faced with an impossible moral choice.

But more than that, there's the actual carrot perpetually dangling from Lee's stick: the chance for the iconoclastic commentator behind projects like and to make a statement

But doesn't really seem to have a cohesive message. The most forgiving take for why th

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