Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reimagine a classic

Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest reimagines Kurosawa's High and Low with Denzel Washington, blending a tense kidnapping thriller with a personal study of artistic legacy.

Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reimagine a classic

Spike Lee revisits Kurosawa’s High and Low by setting his version in a modern New York milieu and centering it on a music mogul who must decide how far he will go to protect his empire. David King, played by Denzel Washington, runs Stackin’ Hits, a label known for discovering chart-toppers. When King’s teenage son Trey is kidnapped, a ransom of 17.5 million dollars is demanded and the plan to deliver the cash goes through a high-rise apartment, a subway car, and a tense cityscape. The twist comes when the kidnapper reveals the wrong child has been taken, making David’s fortune the price for a life not his own. The city’s rhythm intensifies the drama: a live Eddie Palmieri performance during the Puerto Rican Day Parade mirrors the escalating stakes as cops listen in and the clock ticks down.

Lee’s film is a bold blend of homage and reinvention. It leans into the energy and swagger of a big-city thriller while probing a filmmaker’s own sense of purpose and relevance as age and industry change around him. The chemistry between Washington and ASAP Rocky as the antagonist is electric, underscoring a generational clash that adds depth beyond the original’s social critique. Yet the movie sometimes stumbles in its tonal shifts; it moves from an intimate moral fable to a sprawling procedural, and some dialogue feels like a glitch in the screenplay. Still, the director’s eye for city geography, long takes, and a music-forward world gives the adaptation a distinctive pulse that stands apart from Kurosawa’s source.

Highlights

The film lingers where the past and present collide, inviting viewers to question what art costs to those who make it.