“Wake up y’all! The king’s here.” Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest,” released in theaters on August 15 reimagines Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film “High and Low.” Starring Denzel Washington, A$AP Rocky, and Jeffrey Wright, the film swaps Kurosawa’s 1960s Japan for a modern-day Brooklyn and follows a Black family caught between wealth, crime, and morality. However, while Lee’s version brims with excitement and energy, it falls short in communicating the overarching themes of classism and morality that Kurosawa so thoroughly explored.
The parallels are clear. Like “High and Low,” “Highest 2 Lowest” centers on a wealthy man — David King (Washington) — whose chauffeur’s son is kidnapped. But Lee turns a once somber story into a chaotic, exhilarating portrait of New York City. The film’s standout scene is the money drop: King boards a crowded 4 train on the way to Yankee Stadium just as a Yankees–Red Sox game collides with the Puerto Rican Day Parade. When the train stops, he drops the ransom from between cars and the cash is snatched by accomplices who weave through parade crowds on motorcycles while the cops try to keep up. The scene is full of color, sound, and movement, and shows the electrifying nature of Lee’s directing.
Yet where “Highest 2 Lowest” delivers in entertainment, it loses the original movie’s moral edge. Kurosawa’s “High and Low,” whose name in Japanese literally means “Heaven and Hell,” tells a compelling narrative of class conflict. The kidnapper despised the wealthy executive Gondo (parallel to King) because his hilltop mansion symbolized his superiority complex. It isn’t a personal vendetta, but rather Gondo represents the cruel nature of capitalist society.
In Lee’s remake, the kidnapper, Yung Felon (played by A$AP Rocky), shouts, “You not God no more, n**** — I am!” hinting at that same power struggle. But instead of diving deeper into class inequality, Lee shifts focus toward critiques of modern culture: social media addiction, shallow fame, and contemporary music. These touches obscure the film’s message. For example, King complains about his son’s phone use, lamenting that “real music” has vanished. The ending features a young artist named Sula, meant to represent “authentic art”, performing a song that wins King’s approval. But Lee’s attempt to contrast “real music” with Yung Felon’s rap career feels forced. Sula’s success comes through privilege and connections, not talent alone, undercutting Lee’s own argument about authenticity and merit.
Some of the modifications Lee made in his film were necessary considering social implications and cultural differences. For example, Lee contrasts the thorough detective force depicted in Kurosawa’s film with a somewhat incompetent, complacent team of police. In Lee’s movie, the police aren’t necessarily trustworthy, considering the experiences of the Black community. Lee explores themes of racial inequity in a way that adapts Kurosawa’s themes for a new era.
Overall, “Highest 2 Lowest” is a great movie, but it’s not a masterpiece like “High and Low.” It is vibrant and unmistakably Spike Lee, but it lacks the depth that made “High and Low” timeless.
