‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Review: Musically Out Of Sync

Spike Lee has been one of the most vocal and influential black voices in the filmsphere, noted for his stylistically modern values in filmmaking, making classics such as Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X and BlackKklansman. He is also infamous for remaking Park Chan-wook’s OldBoy, a film starring Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen, widely considered to have butchered the classic 2003 film. Now, he has set his eyes on Akira Kurosawa’s legendary film High & Low, which he has remade in a modern setting under the title Highest 2 Lowest. 

Highest 2 Lowest follows music executive David King (Denzel Washington), whose son Trey (Aubrey Joseph), alongside friend Kyle (Elijah Wright), is kidnapped. When King is forced to pay the ransom at the request of his driver, close friend, and Kyle’s father, Paul (Jeffrey Wright), he must track down the kidnapper, parasocial rapper Yung Felon (A$AP Rocky). 

The film, in Spike’s effort to modernise Kurosawa’s tale, is an absolute and utter mess. From an out-of-place score to random scenes of music videos, Highest 2 Lowest has it all and for that reason has nearly nothing. While it’s clear where and why Lee wants to tell this story, he and his directing prowess need to be kept in check with a story like this, one that ends up bloated, messy, and wildly upbeat. Featuring a wide range of past Spike Lee collaborators, the film is more than a fun time, and even the bad aspects make for exuberant fun. For example, the score by (composer) gives the film a tone similar to that of a Hallmark movie. To even say that about a Spike Lee movie starring Denzel Washington is insane to me, but here we are.

The entire movie is paced quite poorly despite its upbeat tone, starting with its setup of David King’s executive background, which I believe does nothing but stall the movie and when you finally get into the meat of the story, it’s nearing the end of the movie, making the end of the movie come off as abrupt. The entire heist sequence, where there is a weird insert of Rosie Perez and Anthony Ramos, is probably the most thrilling of the film, but it only happens deep into the second act. This movie also doesn’t seem to retain the intelligence of the source material, and whilst it attempts to do so in its own way, it really is at its most intellectually stimulating in the ending of the film where a rap battle, without the musicality, takes place between King and Yung Felon. 

The movie is quite strong in terms of its performances, with Denzel Washington sliding very cleanly into the role of David King. Jeffrey Wright is extremely over the top here but plays his overwritten role well. A$AP Rocky, who has as little screentime as his character does development, is probably the best thing about the film, giving an excellent performance. The rest of the movie, besides a few supporting cast members, comes across as stunt casting, and a lot of it comes across as very over the top, contributing to that extreme upbeatness that this movie is infamous for. 

Highest 2 Lowest works to an extent, capitalising on some great performances from great actors, but fails to be as deep as it wants to be. Spike Lee is now 0 for 2 on remaking legendary classics from international filmmakers, and it’s clear he needs to take a step back with his next project. Oh, and if I had a dollar for every Akira Kurosawa remake that starred Denzel Washington in the leading role, I’d have two dollars, which isn’t much but it’s very weird it happened twice.

Highest 2 Lowest stars Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, Aubrey Joseph, Elijah Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, Wendell Pierce, Rosie Perez, Ice Spice, and Anthony Ramos. The film was directed by Spike Lee for A24 and Apple TV. 

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