Highest 2 Lowest: Too much of the latter

Highest 2 Lowest (2025) • View trailer

2.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for relentless profanity, racial epithets and drug use

Available via: Apple TV+

By Derrick Bang

This film is a mess.

 

“Sloppy” and “unrestrained” aren’t words I normally associate with a Spike Lee endeavor, but this bewildering drama seems to have been stitched together like Frankenstein’s monster. The effort to blend predatory music biz avarice with a straight-ahead crime/police thriller ultimately fails on both counts.

 

Having ultimately agreed to pay an exorbitant ransom,, David King (Denzel Washington,
far right) boards a subway, cash-laden backpack in tow, and awaits a call with the next
set of instructions.

Matters aren’t helped by the fact that Denzel Washington — usually so adept at subtlety — behaves here like his character is high on coke the entire time. His David King too often is agitated, twitchy, impulsive and verging on out of control ... and, when interacting with his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph), unpleasantly emotionally abusive.

I realize, with respect to the storyline, that King always needs to be seen as The Man With A Plan, but — more often than not — he acts like the host of a particularly silly 

TV game show. And Lee let him get away with this?

 

Advance publicity has highlighted the fact that Lee’s film, scripted by Alan Fox, is adapted from Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film, High and Low, which starred Toshirô Mifune. Less attention is paid to the fact that Kurosawa’s film was adapted from Ed McBain’s 1959 novel, King’s Ransom, 10th in his 87th Precinct series.

 

No surprise, Lee’s third-generation adaptation bears only faint resemblance to McBain’s novel, which shows poor judgment. McBain was an accomplished writer and plotter; Fox is neither. That said, the core plot has been updated to reflect today’s social media obsession, which adds an intriguing element.

 

Longtime Manhattan-based music mogul David King (Washington), once a mover and shaker who championed numerous young talents in the early 21st century, now is regarded as “past it.” He sold off majority interest in his company years back, in order to finance the lavish lifestyle enjoyed with his wife, Pam (Ilfenesh Hadera), and their son.

 

But now his beloved label, Stackin’ Hits Records, faces a buyout from a rival — Stray Dog Enterprises — that would exploit all the artists’ songs by turning them into TV commercial jingles (a fate worse than death). King concocts a Hail Mary plan to buy the shares belonging to partner Patrick Bethea (Michael Potts), in order to regain control, thus allowing him to rejuvenate the label ... but this will require leveraging all of King’s personal assets.

 

King’s chauffeur and longtime best friend, Paul Christopher (Jeffrey Wright), is an ex-con who nonetheless is regarded as family. King is godfather to Christopher’s son, Kyle (Elijah Wright), and the two teens also are inseparable besties. Christopher’s wife died years back, so Kyle means everything to him.