It has been nearly 20 years since Spike Lee and Denzel Washington worked together on a feature. But for their fifth outing, they are going high and low, reteaming for the first time since 2006’s Inside Man for Highest 2 Lowest, the trailer of which has officially dropped ahead of the movie’s August 15th debut.
Here is the official plot of Highest 2 Lowest, courtesy of A24: “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.” The movie runs 134 minutes, slightly shorter than Kurosawa’s film.
Highest 2 Lowest had its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it screened out of competition (and Denzel was surprised with a special Palme d’Or). While it had some mixed reviews coming out of the fest, it currently holds an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and is still absolutely going to be one of the must-see movies of the year considering the reunion of Lee and Washington. The supporting cast features Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, Dean Winters, ASAP Rocky, Ice Spice, and Wendell Pierce.
While initial comments from Denzel Washington seemed to point at his imminent retirement, he has since clarified and said he is in the “return part” of his career. Whenever the time comes for Denzel to hang it up, we’re glad he was able to get one more Lee collab in, as their films together – Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man – are some of the best of their respective careers.
As mentioned, Highest 2 Lowest will hit theaters later this month before arriving on Apple TV+ on September 5th. For those interested in seeing Kurosawa’s original, it is currently streaming on The Criterion Channel and HBO Max.
What do you think of the trailer for Highest 2 Lowest? Will you be checking it out in theaters or Apple TV+?
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