| Highest 2 Lowest | |
|---|---|
 Release poster | |
| Directed by | Spike Lee |
| Screenplay by | Alan Fox[1] |
| Based on |
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| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Matthew Libatique |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Howard Drossin |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | |
Release dates | |
Running time | 133 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.5 million[3] |
Highest 2 Lowest is a 2025 Americancrime thriller film directed bySpike Lee from a screenplay by Alan Fox. It is an English-language remake ofAkira Kurosawa's 1963 Japanese filmHigh and Low, itself based onEd McBain's 1959 novelKing's Ransom. The film starsDenzel Washington,Jeffrey Wright,Ilfenesh Hadera,ASAP Rocky,John Douglas Thompson,Dean Winters,LaChanze,Princess Nokia, andIce Spice (in her film debut). It is the fifth collaboration between Lee and Washington and the first sinceInside Man (2006).
Principal photography began in New York City in March 2024 andwrapped that May.Highest 2 Lowest had its world premiere out of competition of theCannes Film Festival on May 19, 2025, and was released theatrically in the United States byA24 on August 15 before becoming available onApple TV+ on September 5.[4] The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
David King is aNew York City music mogul, considered to have the "best ears in the business", and the founder of Stackin' Hits Records. Having once sold his majority interest in the company, he intends to buy back majority ownership to avert a buyout by a rival label. To regain majority ownership, King offers to buy out one of his two partners’ shares. To raise the cash for the deal, he puts up most of his personal assets, including hisDumbo penthouse home and collection of art by contemporary Black artists, as collateral.
The day the deal is to go through, King receives an anonymous call from a kidnapper demanding $17.5 million inSwiss 1,000-franc notes for the safe return of his son, Trey. King immediately calls the police and agrees with his wife, Pam, to pay the ransom, even though it risks the cash he needs for his business deal. But Trey is soon found safe, as the kidnapper has mistakenly taken Kyle, Trey's best friend and the son of King's driver and confidant, Paul Christopher.
The kidnapper still demands the money in exchange for Kyle's life. Despite King's willingness to ransom his own son, he is reluctant to do the same for Kyle. Paul and Trey both plead with King to save Kyle. King's business partner warns him that failing to do so will hurt the company's image. After a long night of soul-searching, King agrees to pay the ransom.
Following the kidnapper's instructions, King packs the money in anAir Jordan backpack, which the police mark with aGPS tracker, goes to Brooklyn'sBorough Hallsubway stop, and gets ona train toYankee Stadium. Near the stadium, the kidnapper calls King and orders him to go between the train cars. Then an accomplice triggers theemergency brake, the train jerks to a halt, and the bag falls between the cars and through the ironwork of the elevated line to the street. Another accomplice, riding a moped, catches it, and the bag is subsequently handed off between additional accomplices on mopeds several times as they escape through thePuerto Rican Day Parade. When the police manage to catch the bagman, the money has already been removed. Kyle is released in a nearby park.
King's actions have made him a hero to the public, and several Stackin' Hits songs are climbing the charts. But King's lenders of the $17.5 million say he must repay them in two weeks or they will begin seizing the collateral he used to secure the loan, as it was agreed that the money was to be used only for the buyout. King broke the contract by using the money to pay Kyle's ransom rather than to buy shares of Stackin' Hits. Kyle cannot identify his kidnapper, but recalls hearing a distinctivehip-hop track while he was captive. King, listening to a playlist ofdemo tracks that Trey has put together for him to listen to, recognizes the voice of a rapper, Yung Felon, as the caller's. The police do not consider this decisive, so King and Paul, both armed, track down Yung Felon's address themselves. There, King meets his wife, Rosa, and infant son, David. Rosa tells him that "Archie" (Yung Felon's government name) is an ex-convict and aspiring rapper who idolizes King. Believing he wants to sign Archie to his label, Rosa directs King to hisrecording studio, where he confronts Archie. In an imprompturap battle, Archie says he saw King as afather figure and resorted to the kidnapping after being ignored by him for years. A gunfight breaks out and Archie flees to anearby elevated subway train station. King chases him to the platform and onto the train, finally catching him between cars and knocking him unconscious. Meanwhile, the detectives find the ransom money at Archie's apartment.
King offers Paul a chance to be part of the new label. Paul, whose left eye was shot out in the gunfight with Archie, "respectfully" declines. Archie takes a plea deal, accepting a 25-year prison sentence in return for another face-to-face meeting with King. When they meet, Archie tries to convince King to sign him. He has become the world's most-streamed musical artist since the kidnapping and says he has already turned down many lucrative offers. King says he has left Stackin' Hits Records to create a new, smaller label, and rejects Archie, who explodes in anger and disappointment.
At their penthouse, King, Pam, and Trey audition Sula, a singer-songwriter Trey discovered. Her performance of her song "Highest 2 Lowest" wows the Kings, who offer to sign her to their new label.
Rick Fox,[6]Rod Strickland,[6]Don Lemon,Eddie Palmieri,Anthony Ramos, andRosie Perez appear as themselves.
Spike Lee received Alan Fox's original script before theCOVID-19 pandemic and was involved with rewriting it afterDenzel Washington agreed to star.[7][8] The revision took the form of an adaptation ofAkira Kurosawa's filmHigh and Low.[9] In February 2024, the film was announced, to be produced byA24,Todd Black forEscape Artists, andJason Michael Berman forMandalay Pictures, with Lee as director and executive producer through his40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks label.[10] It is the fifth collaboration between Lee and Washington and their most recent sinceInside Man (2006).[8]Ilfenesh Hadera,Jeffrey Wright, andIce Spice joined the cast in the following months.[11][12][13] According to Lee,ASAP Rocky has the "main role" in the film.[8] ASAP Rocky also created two songs for the soundtrack, "Both Eyes Closed" and "Trunks".[14]Principal photography began in New York City on March 4, 2024, withMatthew Libatique as cinematographer, andwrapped on May 31.[15][16] The production design featured reproductions of paintings in Lee's art collection, including works byJean-Michel Basquiat,Kehinde Wiley,Deborah Roberts, andFrederick J. Brown.[17]
A24 Music released the soundtrack on August 15, 2025. It has 19 tracks, including original songs by ASAP Rocky,Aiyana-Lee, andJensen McRae.[18] A score album byHoward Drossin and an EP of music by pianist and composerFergus McCreadie were also released.[19][20]
In April 2025,Thierry Frémaux, artistic director of theCannes Film Festival, confirmed thatHighest 2 Lowest would premiere out of competition at theCannes Film Festival on May 19, 2025. The festival's official lineup announcement did not include the film as it was awaiting confirmation that Washington would attend.[21] The film was scheduled to be released theatrically byA24 on August 22 before becoming available to stream onApple TV on September 5.[10][22] Its theatrical release was later moved up to August 15.[23]
The filmunderperformed at the box office on its opening weekend, with numbers apparently "so weak that A24 and Apple Studios took the unorthodox step of not releasing box-office numbers at all".Variety wrote that it was the latest film toguest-star a famous musician but fail to reap the anticipated profits.[24]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 84% of 219 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Spike Lee and Denzel Washington remix a classic with vibrantly contemporary results inHighest 2 Lowest, a swaggering thriller that lovingly showcases New York City."[25]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[26]
Robert Daniels ofRogerEbert.com gave the film three and a half out of four stars and wrote, "While many will come toHighest 2 Lowest craving the angst of Kurosawa's masterpiece, for once Lee isn't setting out to copy what was great before. He is using the past as a starting point to launch into what may be the final phase of his career. He is wielding a plethora of inspirations—musical, cinematic, and historical—to reunite with an old friend. He is making a Spike Lee joint. And it's exceptional."[27] David Ehrlich ofIndieWire gave the film a B, writing, "Lee is so much more interesting for what he brings to a project than for what he takes away from it, andHighest 2 Lowest is naturally at its best when it deviates from its source material."[28]Richard Brody ofThe New Yorker wrote, "Lee turns the story into what is one of his most personal films, both emotionally and intellectually" and "Oddly, the move comes not as a renunciation but as a new adventure. The movie’s subject may be production, but the director is striking boldly out into a strange new artistic world."[29]
Donald Clark ofThe Irish Times gaveHighest 2 Lowest two out of five stars and wrote, "Too much ofHighest 2 Lowest feels knocked off in a hugely expensive hurry" and "The film is never boring, but, once that delightful opening winds down, the action clunks where it should purr."[30]
