HIGHEST 2 LOWEST
(director: Spike Lee; screenwriters: Alan Fox, based on Akira Kurosawa’s film “High and Low” written by Akira Kurosavwa, Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima, Eijiro Hisaita, based on the novel “King’s Ransom” by Evan Hunter; cinematographer: Matthew Libatique; editors: Barry Alexander Brown, Allyson C. Johnson; music: Howard Drossin; cast: Denzel Washington (David King), Jeffrey Wright (Paul Christopher), Ilfenesh Hadera (Pam King), Aubrey Joseph (Trey), Elijah Wright (Kyle Christopher), Dean Winters (Detective Higgins), LaChanze (Detective Bell), John Douglas Thompson (Detective Earl Bridges), A$AP Rocky-a.k.a. Rakim Mayers (Young Felon); Runtime: 133; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Jason Michael Berman, Todd Black; Apple Original Films/A24; 2025)
“Spike plays the crime for laughs.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An engrossing but flawed remake of the late great Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s classic police procedure High and Low (1963). The remake is directed by Spike Lee (“Pass Over”/ “Malcolm X”) to be celebratory about the rich cultural identity of NYC. The uneven thriller is written by Alan Fox with too many subplots that are not fully explored. It’s based on the 1959 novel “King’s Ransom” by Evan Hunter.
David King (Denzel Washington) is a wealthy Black music mogul living in a Brooklyn penthouse on the waterfront, who is “known for having the best ears in the business.” He’s faced with paying a big ransom when his teenage son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) is kidnapped. It turns out the kidnapper is a screw-up and instead of snatching David’s son at a Long Island basketball camp he mistakenly took his son’s best friend Kyle (Elijah Wright, the real-life son of Jeffrey), the teenage son of David’s chauffeur Paul (Jeffrey Wright). The kidnapper calls David and nevertheless still asks for a ransom of $17.5 million in Swiss Francs.
The morality question of paying the ransom is dismissed, as David asks several notable Black celebrities (such as James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix) what they would do.
In the film’s second part, David decides to track down the kidnapper himself, as Spike plays the crime for laughs. There’s a rapping song duel between David and rap artists, as seen in a dream sequence. While the story has a train chase, featuring a quick look at a Yankee game with the Red Sox, and a Puerto Rico Day parade in the South Bronx.
Three NYPD detectives ((Dean Winters, LaChanze and John Douglas Thompson) track down a suspect, the rapper Young Felon (rapper ASAP Rocky – a.k.a. Rakim Mayers), who goes on a tiresome tone deaf rant when questioned.
Though the film is funny at times it’s too spotty to be a classic.
It played at the Cannes Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 1/14/2026 GRADE: B-
dennisschwartzreviews.com