Highest 2 Lowest

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 on top of the music world like he once was. He’s on the verge of making a deal to buy back Stackin’ Hits, which David intends to continue the work he’s done for black culture.

But the deal goes sideways when David’s son, Trey, is kidnapped, or so they think. Trey comes home safe, but his friend Kyle (Elijah Wright) is taken by mistake. Kyle is David’s godson, and his father, Paul (Jeffrey Wright), works for David and is treated like his brother. The kidnapper (ASAP Rocky, aka Rakim Mayers) knows this, but still wants David to pay a $17.5 million ransom for Kyle.

Now David must choose between making a financial deal that means so much to him or saving someone who isn’t his son with nearly every dollar his family has to their name.

The dialogue of Highest 2 Lowest is so good. Alan Fox is credited for writing the screenplay, even though Spike Lee re-wrote some aspects of it after Denzel Washington joined the cast. But conversations have a natural flow to them with genuine dialogue that feels grounded in reality.

The strong performances help with that, as well. Jeffrey Wright is superb as Paul, a concerned father who will stop at nothing to get his son back. Paul has a troubled past that he’s distanced himself from, but also allows him to have connections to things he probably shouldn’t. You sympathize with Paul more than anyone else in the film because he only has one...

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 admittedly being a somewhat unusual production choice for this storied auteur. This is by no means a bad offering, but it is a puzzling one that is largely difficult to categorize. “Highest 2 Lowest” follows the story of David King (Denzel Washington), a successful New York City music mogul said to have “the best ears in the business.” However. when on the brink of closing a deal to revive his sagging recording company, he’s suddenly distracted by the apparent kidnapping of his 17-year-old son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph), whose release carries a $17.5 million ransom demand, an amount essentially equal to what he would need to complete his pending business transaction. Matters become further complicated when David learns that the criminals have not kidnapped Trey but have instead erroneously nabbed the teenage son (Elijah Wright) of his longtime friend, Paul Christopher (Jeffrey Wright), an ex-con who works as his driver, associate and confidante. This leaves David with the question, should he pay the ransom for someone who isn’t his son? Will doing so prevent the deal from proceeding? And what kind of public fallout would he experience if he declines to do so? Such are the dilemmas he must address and the outcomes they could bring. However, while this story thread makes up the core of the film’s narrative, it’s not especially well executed in terms of writing, editing and the performances....

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.