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Highest 2 Lowest

Play trailer 0:51 Poster for Highest 2 Lowest R In Theaters Fri Aug 22 2h 13m Mystery & Thriller Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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89% Tomatometer 36 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Verified Ratings
When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the "best ears in the business", is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. Brothers Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for the 5th in their long working relationship for a reinterpretation of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's crime thriller High and Low, now played out on the mean streets of modern day New York City.
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Cast & Crew

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Spike Lee

Director

Denzel Washington

Actor

Jeffrey Wright

Actor

Ilfenesh Hadera

Actor

A$AP Rocky

Yung Felon

Dean Winters

Actor

Critics Reviews

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Robbie Collin Daily Telegraph (UK) This fifth Lee-Washington collaboration is the sort of luxurious gloss-and-grit thriller that was once a studio staple back in the brontosaurus-infested swamps of the late 20th century... Rated: 4/5 Jun 16, 2025 Full Review John Bleasdale Time Out Lee has made stunningly good crime thrillers – Clockers and 25th Hour – but like his protagonist, here he appears to be struggling to stay relevant and still use his own unique voice. May 23, 2025 Full Review Rory Doherty AV Club This thriller positions two men of ambition against each other, exposing the old guard’s vulnerabilities so that, through a suspense plot, they can work through their insecurities and triumphantly refuse to capitulate to insolent young upstarts. Rated: B May 21, 2025 Full Review Farah Cheded Film Daze Though it’s not Lee's best, it’s perhaps the busiest movie he has made, and the first in a while to recapture the ecstatic tone of 25th Hour‘s rapturous final moments — meaning it ultimately lands closer to the first word of its title than the last. Jun 12, 2025 Full Review Àngel Quintana Caimán Cuadernos de Cine The thriller is the pretext that maintains the intrigue, but the most interesting aspect of the film are the footnotes, the ironic asides, and the twilight gaze that moves between the images. [Full review in Spanish] Jun 3, 2025 Full Review Hector A. Gonzalez InSession Film The difference between that film and Highest to Lowest is that Spike does not want to remake a Kurosawa picture; he has learned from his mistakes. Instead, he uses it as inspiration to create something new and akin to his style and sensibilities. Rated: B- May 28, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

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Movie Info

Synopsis When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the "best ears in the business", is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. Brothers Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for the 5th in their long working relationship for a reinterpretation of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's crime thriller High and Low, now played out on the mean streets of modern day New York City.
Director
Spike Lee
Producer
Todd Black, Jason Michael Berman
Screenwriter
Alan Fox
Distributor
Apple Original Films
Production Co
Apple Original Films
Rating
R (Brief Drug Use|Language Throughout)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 22, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 5, 2025
Runtime
2h 13m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio
Digital 2.39:1