It feels downright wrong to say that the last Spike Lee-Denzel Washington collaboration was almost 20 years ago, with 2006’s Inside Man. One of the best things you can say about Highest 2 Lowest, then,is that this reunion both overdue and well worth the wait. After a few fun turns in otherwise middling franchise fare with The Equalizer 3 and Gladiator 2, Lee gets Washington back to full power for the first time since The Tragedy of Macbeth, a perfect central engine for this New York crime caper who is so damn charismatic that in one sequence he manages to steal the scene with only his left arm in the frame.
Remaking Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low/re-adapting King’s Ransom, the book that film was based on, Lee puts Washington into the role of David King, a legendary New York record label owner who was once a starmaker but is now struggling to keep up with the new era of algorithmic, AI-assisted music. In the midst of a (clearly ill-advised) scheme to put his life savings behind buying back a controlling share of the company he founded, David’s cushy-but-creaking life is thrown for a loop when he gets a call to say that his 17-year-old son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) has been kidnapped, with the abductors demanding $17.5 million, almost his entire fortune.
As it turns out, though, the kidnappers messed up and accidentally grabbed the son of David’s old friend and chauffeur Paul (Jeffrey Wright), who loyally works for the King family after a stint in prison. David’s willingness to part with all his worldly possessions begins to evaporate when his own son is safely back home, and so begins a journey that is part thriller as David, Paul, and the police race to track down the criminals and part long night of the soul for a lead character suddenly confronted with the limits of his own ‘goodness’.
Getting all this set up is Highest 2 Lowest’s weakest point, the emotional reality of the stakes not communicated clearly enough as Lee and screenwriter Alan Fox hurry themselves on to the more fun stuff, backed by a bizarrely bad score that, thankfully, gives way to a much more licensed song-heavy soundtrack in the back half. It’s a price worth paying though, and a situation helped immensely by the bevy of two-hander scenes between Washington, probably the best actor in the world, and Wright, probably in the top 20, who are an absurd amount of fun together. Once the action really kicks off, Highest 2 Lowest is a classic New York crime caper from the top drawer and also one of 2025’s funniest films – a little bit of prop comedy from Wright is the hardest I’ve laughed in a cinema all year.
It’s frenetic but fluid and pure Spike Lee – who else would have the climactic confrontation of their Kurosawa remake play out as essentially a rap battle between Denzel Washington and A$AP Rocky? A chase across the city via subway trains, cars, mopeds, and some hilariously slow running is an old school yet featherlight thrill and Lee’s love for New York itself remains infectious. He and DP Matthew Libatique often shoot the city in a picture-postcard, fairytale light, its dreamy skyline reflecting beautifully off the various glass surfaces of the Kings’ gorgeous penthouse, and there’s New Yorker joy both wholesome (a Puerto Rican Day Parade) and vulgar (sports fans yelling ‘fuck Boston’ directly to camera).
Let down a bit by its beginning and the fact that, despite being the third lead, Ilfenesh Hadera is given *nothing* to do as David’s wife Pam, Highest 2 Lowest’s highs absolutely dwarf its lows, down to a pitch-perfect ending that’ll leave you grinning through the credits. It’s a shame that its cinema release before it lands on Apple TV is so minuscule – I was lucky enough to see it with a responsive crowd on the big screen – but this’ll still be a delight in your living room.
Jack Blackwell – Film Reviews 