Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

Based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film High and Low, which was loosely based on the 1959 novel King Ransom by Ed McBain (the pen name of Evan Hunter), Highest 2 Lowest is Spike Lee’s modern-day reimagining. David King (Denzel Washington) is a music mogul making his fortune as having “the best ears in the business.” He established Stackin’ Hits Records, which was a huge record label for black artists in the early 2000s. In the modern day, David lives in a penthouse suite overlooking all of New York City with his wife Pam (Ilfenesh Hidera) and 17-year-old son Trey (Aubrey Joseph). But he isn’t o…

Director Spike Lee is known for having made his share of fine films (“Do the Right Thing” (1989), “Malcolm X” (1992), “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986), “BlacKkKlansman” (2018) and “Da 5 Bloods” (2020), among others), as well as his share of misfires (“Chi-Raq” (2015), “Red Hook Summer” (2012) and “Bamboozled” (2000), to name a few), but rarely do his pictures fall squarely in the largely indistinguishable middle. Such is the case, however, with the filmmaker’s latest outing, a reinterpretation of the 1963 Akira Kurosawa Japanese crime thriller, “High and Low” (“Tengoku to jigoku”), a remake admitt…

Denzel is the man. Spike Lee is a GOAT. A24 tends to be the bee's knees. Kurosawa...more GOATed film pedigree. ASAP Rocky also great. Apple ooooh they're a big company. Some could argue the best company... This movie starts off with 2 minutes of some annoying prick's NY vacation footage. Old men and their technology. Spike Lee. You're just like Scorsese. Past due. Please stop making boring movies and maybe you'll get some of that attention again. Ride the wave. You invented this shit. Fuck you.