With Spike Lee’s latest film and 5th collaboration with actor Denzel Washington dropping last Friday, I thought it’d be a good time to revisit a movie I had the pleasure of watching in its limited theatrical release less than a month ago.
Highest 2 Lowest (2025) is a readaptation of the book King’s Ransom (1959) and a remake of the critically acclaimed Akira Kurosawa film High and Low (1963). Denzel Washington plays a music executive striving for control of his label while an unknown man mistakenly holds his chauffeur’s son captive. A debate of whether or not to pay the ransom becomes a point of debate throughout the first act of the film. Notable things set it apart from the Japanese film, including the New York City setting and contents of the 3rd act. In the 3rd act of the Kurosawa film, we are shown the low point of Japanese society through the eyes of the criminal, who the police hunt thoroughly as they feel they need to uphold justice due to their admiration of the individual who paid the ransom. In Lee’s version, the NYPD bumble around after the electric handoff sequence, waiting for answers to their questions and disrespecting the wishes of the chauffeur, while Denzel and Jeffrey Wright (who plays the chauffeur) confront the kidnapper by themselves, leading to a violent confrontation.
With the structural and tonal changes being made in this motion picture, I could see why people who love the Kurosawa movie would be upset that this production came to fruition. In the eyes of a dissenter, it could easily be seen as a rejection of the original work. Knowing the context of Spike’s love for Kurosawa though, with him having sung praise for him and his work many times, we can infer that he just wants to make his own take on something he loves.
Many of the things that make High and Low work are recontextualized within the remake, like the contained setting of the first act, the procedural nature of the 2nd act, and the train handoff sequence, now taking place during the Puerto Rican Day Parade. What catches a lot of people off guard is the humor, being very jarring compared to the stressful nature of the situation depicted in the original. I think it works for the most part, but what conflicts me about the film is the ending. In High and Low we saw a rejection of wealth and a stance of modesty being taken, showing that money and status inherently breed resentment among the poor and unfortunate. H2L takes a different stance, with the family not losing their social status, and wealth being seen as something that should simply be used with caution. This action could be seen as Spike desiring capitalist control over his finance, rather than having to answer to anyone in a place of power. We can see this through the last scene, as Denzel now owns an independent record label, rather than having to converse with executives over the act of whether or not to sell the company. His character’s motivation throughout the movie was to bring back the passion that he felt when he was actually working on the music, so this ending makes sense. I’m personally fine with it, but I feel as though some people may feel it’s too lenient to someone with massive amounts of wealth. Nevertheless, I can understand where Spike was coming from when choosing to alter that aspect of the ending, as there are inherent societal differences between Japan and the United States. Spike Lee isn’t the same person as Akira Kurosawa, so there will obviously be differences in their philosophies.
Overall, this is a well made picture that wears its influences on its sleeve, and while I personally find the original to be more suited for me, many should be able to see the advantages of modern remakes like H2L. It shows adoration and love for the original, but it has a voice of its own.
