From Kurosawa to Concrete: Spike Lee’s Highest to Lowest - Review

Denzel Washington commands in Spike Lee’s urban riff on Kurosawa’s High and Low.

Review: Highest to Lowest

Spike Lee’s Highest to Lowest is a bold mix of social commentary, New York love letter, and urban thriller that doesn’t shy away from swinging its punches directly at the audience. While the premise circles around a kidnapping and a heist, the heart of the film beats with questions about family, fatherhood, and what lines we won’t cross when protecting our own.

At the center is Denzel Washington, delivering a magnetic performance that’s equal parts commanding and quietly vulnerable. As he ages, Denzel seems to distill his presence into pure gravitas, and here, he channels that into a character that feels like an older, more self-aware Russell Simmons type—still stylish in his suit and sneakers, but worn by the weight of experience.

For cinephiles, Highest to Lowest carries an undeniable echo of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 masterpiece High and Low. Lee preserves much of the original’s moral tension and human stakes, but updates the story’s engine to fit today’s realities—where technology, social media, and modern lifestyles radically shift how a kidnapping, ransom, and investigation might unfold. Instead of a Japanese shoe magnate navigating the codes and class divides of postwar Japan, Lee gives us a portrait of a high-profile music executive wrestling with similar questions of morality, loyalty, and sacrifice in a vastly different cultural and technological landscape. The core theme—the lengths a father will go to protect—remains timeless.

Lee’s script also digs into the troubling reality that so many young Black men remain fixated on fame through music and entertainment, while simultaneously celebrating the beauty, resilience, and achievements of Black and Puerto Rican culture in New York City. The film pulses with this cultural pride, amplified by musical spotlights and an unflinching sense of place—from Yankee Stadium to the subway, from parks to drone-shot skylines. Like much of Lee’s work, Highest to Lowest is drenched in New York identity.

Tonally, the film leans more drama than thriller. It carries echoes of He Got Game and School Daze rather than the brooding tension of Lee’s Oldboy remake. In fact, the structure—particularly the staged kidnapping plot—draws a sly parallel to Empire, as if Lee were remixing that premise with his own political and cultural beats.

The music-driven storytelling, along with A24’s involvement, could hook a younger audience, but older viewers may find the tone unexpectedly offbeat. Still, Spike isn’t hiding his themes anymore—he’s throwing them head-on, and you either take them or you don’t.

At Horror Movies Uncut, we’re giving Highest to Lowest a 3 out of 5. It’s a vibrant, flawed, but unmistakably Spike Lee joint—where the streets, the style, and the soul of New York take center stage. Whether it becomes a box office force depends on if audiences—young and old—are ready for this particular groove.

STARRING

Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, and A$AP Rocky.

DIRECTED BY

Spike Lee