One of the joys of movies is watching Denzel Washington act. While the concept of the movie star has changed drastically over the years, Washington remains one of the best of the best — a powerhouse performer with a screen presence that pulls us like a magnet. Washington has had many wonderful collaborators over the years (one of my personal favorites being the late, great Tony Scott), but arguably the best of his partnerships has been with Spike Lee. Lee, one of the best to ever do it, has helmed
Washington in several memorable roles, and the last time they worked together was in 2006's crackerjack bank robbery flick "Inside Man" (the biggest box office hit of Lee's career).
Now, almost 20 years later, Washington and Lee are together again with "Highest 2 Lowest," a remake of Akira Kurosawa's masterful "High and Low" (itself inspired by the Ed McBain book "King's Ransom"). Washington and Lee reuniting is probably worth the price of admission alone, and sure enough, the two pros fall back into an electric rhythm, with Washington doing some of his best work, commanding the screen as he plays a once-great man wondering if his time has come and gone.
That's not to say "Highest 2 Lowest" is a home run, though. This is a bumpy ride, and the first half of the film is curiously off in an almost imperceptible away (although Howard Drossin's corny, distracting musical score certainly isn't doing it any favors). Despite his considerable talents, Lee hasn't had the best luck with remakes, and the first 40 or so minutes of "Highest 2 Lowest" had me a little worried, even though Washington is pretty great right out of the gate. Eventually, though, Lee starts to cut loose, creating something funny and exciting in the process.
Read more: All 12 Christopher Nolan Movies, Ranked From Worst To Best
Highest 2 Lowest Follows The Basic Premise Of Kurosawa's Classic
"Highest 2 Lowest" follows the basic premise of Kurosawa's classic, telling the story of a kidnapping gone wrong and the tough decisions that follow. Washington is David King, a millionaire mogul and record producer who runs Stackin' Hits Records. We're told (repeatedly) that David has the best ears in the business, but Stackin' Hits seemingly hasn't stacked any hits since 2004, and the company is on the cusp of being sold. But David doesn't want to let go of the empire he built, and he's cooked up a plan (and some money) to buy a controlling interest in the company himself.
You can, of course, take a meta approach to this character, and assume Lee is seeing something of himself in David — a great artist worried that his glory days are behind him as the industry changes (there's even a moment where David bemoans the increasing use of AI). I mean, hell, once upon a time, a Lee/Washington team-up would be a major event, but "Highest 2 Lowest" has had barely any marketing, and the film is receiving a small theatrical release before ending up on Apple TV+. There is a bit of an aging man's fantasy at play here, as "Highest 2 Lowest" eventually becomes the story of David returning to glory without selling out — the dream of anyone who was once on top only to see the luster fade.
David's world is turned upside down when he gets a call telling him that his teenage son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) has been kidnapped. But here's the twist: Trey hasn't been kidnapped. Instead, the kidnapper has mistakenly snatched Kyle (Elijah Wright), Trey's best friend and the son of Paul (Jeffrey Wright), David's lifelong friend/current chauffeur. The kidnapper doesn't care that he's got the wrong kid, he just wants money, and lots of it, or Kyle will be killed. You might think the solution is simple: David is a rich man, why wouldn't he simply pay to save the life of his best friend's son?
But David hesitates. It's a hefty sum of cash (the abductor asks for 17.5 million in Swiss Francs, which translates to about $21,727,177.50), and losing that money could both torpedo the comfy life David lives with his loving wife Pam (Ilfenesh Hadera) and kill his dream of seizing control of the record label he's built.
Highest 2 Lowest Starts Off On Bumpy Ground But Eventually Finds Its Footing
This first section of the film, where David paces around his penthouse and grapples with decisions while dealing with the police, is awkward and even off-putting. The actors are doing the best they can — Washington is, as always, a towering presence, and he and Wright share some great, emotional moments. But the scenes lack a certain urgency, and that cloying musical score keeps threatening to ruin everything — it constantly sounds like a parody of what an old school film score might be and intrudes on moments in such a way that it kills any momentum before it can build.
I wouldn't call this section of the film bad, exactly, but it did leave me puzzled, because I know that Lee can do so much better. Is Lee trying to play a trick on us? Or is he just uninterested in this section of the film? I don't know the answer, but eventually, David leaves his apartment, heads out into the streets of New York, and "Highest 2 Lowest" begins to really take off. Lee stages a frantic ransom drop that's genuinely thrilling, and the film comes even more to life when we start spending more time with the kidnapper, an aspiring rapper named Yung Felon, played with supreme confidence by a scene-stealing ASAP Rocky.
Lee and editors Barry Alexander Brown and Allyson C. Johnson also keep the film moving at a breakneck speed, employing quick, snappy cuts even in the most mundane of scenes. This approach gives "Highest 2 Lowest" a jazz-like rhythm that becomes irresistible, aided at every step by Washington's dynamite performance as he rattles off lyric-like dialogue and reminds us again and again that he's so damn good at what he does.
Denzel Washington Remains One Of The Best Of The Best
Do I wish "Highest 2 Lowest" worked better from start to finish? I sure do. Those first 40 minutes are rough, and I know Lee still has the goods. It probably doesn't help that Kurosawa's original is a perfect film that manages to make scenes of people sitting around in rooms more thrilling than any car chase.
But whatever the flaws in Lee's remake design, "Highest 2 Lowest" rises above its issues thanks to the filmmaker's inherent skill and Washington's unbeatable charisma. For all his proclaimed greatness, David is a deeply flawed man, and Washington knows just how to play that. One of the most telling scenes has him theorizing that in our modern world where something crazy happens seemingly every day, the public will quickly move on and forget if he lets Kyle be murdered. Another sequence has David angrily reprimanding Trey for daring to raise his voice to his father, only to then show us David in his office breaking down crying over the idea of letting his son down.
All of this is a long-winded way of me saying I just really love to watch Denzel Washington act, man. There really is no one like him on screen today, and I hope he and Lee don't wait another 20 years before they work together again. Even if they make another movie as flawed as "Highest 2 Lowest," I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun to watch.
/Film Rating: 7 out of 10
"Highest 2 Lowest" opens in select theaters on August 15, 2025 before streaming on Apple TV+ on September 5.
If you're looking for the easiest way to keep up with all the major movie and TV news, why not sign up to our free newsletter?
Read the original article on SlashFilm.
