Despite living in a period where directors working with the same actors time and again isn’t as common as it used to be, it still occurs.

For instance, Spike Lee’s latest sees him working with two time Oscar winner Denzel Washington for the fifth time. It’s just a shame then that it happens to be the worst collaboration to date.

Music mogul David King (Washington) has done it all in the music business, with 20 of his artists winner Grammys, but now there’s talk of change in the air with a bid in to buy his company Stackin’ Hits Records.

But just as he’s getting his head around the business, he gets a call saying that his teenage son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) has been kidnapped, and those that have him want $17.5 million.

Of course he agrees to pay the ransom, but when it goes sideways, King soon finds himself facing one tough moral dilemma.

On paper this film ticks a lot of boxes: not only is it directed by Lee and stars Washington, it’s also based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film High and Low. That’s a nice little package right there.

But renowned sports fan Lee drops the ball horribly with this Apple TV + original, in what is a bloated attempt at a modern parable.

If only the US director spent less time fawning over NYC - in what is less a love letter and more a full blown, down on one knee public marriage proposal to the Big Apple – and more on a tighter script, then perhaps the end result would have been more satisfying.

And as charming as Washington is, it’s difficult to care about his uber rich family and lifestyle, lacking the personable and vibrant working class characters of Lee’s earlier work.

What’s worse is the highly annoying incidental soundtrack that is absolutely everywhere for the first hour, that is so prominent, it drowns out every dramatic scene, making what we see virtually redundant. It’s reminiscent of the kind of intense soundtrack that would accompany those fifties melodramas, but it lacks any kind of balance here and just overwhelms everything on screen.

Overall it just feels a waste, of what has been to date a strong collaboration, also with the talent on board that includes Jeffrey Wright, nowhere near reaching their potential.

Perhaps the allure of all that Apple money was just too great to turn down, and let’s face it, Lee and Washington wouldn’t be the first to be seduced by the barrels of cash these streamers can offer.

But as far as their on-going partnership is concerned, this most definitely marks the lowest point of it.