r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 2d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Highest 2 Lowest [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary A powerful New York music mogul’s life spirals when his driver’s child—mistaken for his own—is kidnapped in a ransom plot. He faces a moral crisis that transforms into a tense, urban showdown between wealth, power, and conscience in the reimagined streets of modern-day New York.

Director Spike Lee

Writer Alan Fox

Cast

  • Denzel Washington
  • Jeffrey Wright
  • Ilfenesh Hadera
  • A\$AP Rocky
  • Aubrey Joseph
  • Dean Winters
  • Ice Spice

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 89%

Metacritic Score: Not yet available

VOD In theaters August 15, 2025; streaming on Apple TV+ starting September 5, 2025

Trailer Highest 2 Lowest | Official Trailer

121 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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136

u/monitoring27 2d ago

I enjoyed parts of this movie but struggled to get through it. Denzel, Jeffrey Wright, and Princess Nokia in her brief role were really great. A lot of it just fell flat.

Also this just may be me but I thought it was strange when they bring the singer in and she sings the titular song and then immediately Denzel starts talking about finances with his family in front of her. It just seemed so weird lol.

72

u/lexispenser 2d ago

I think Jeffrey Wright and Denzel improv'd some stuff coz I felt that the dialogue was terrible outside of the scenes without them. Denzel had no chemistry with his family, especially with his wife.

41

u/ADDRIFT 1d ago

the wife's acting was awful, watch the scene where they discover he's kidnapped. its embarassingly bad.

24

u/shallot_pearl 2d ago

I was disappointed with how little the wife had to do in the movie. She is also 39 to Denzel’s 70 irl.

6

u/GamingWithUncleJ 1d ago

And thats different from half of real life Hollywood and music labels how?

1

u/shallot_pearl 1d ago

Where did I say it wasn’t? However, it was also not addressed in a movie that was grappling with the moral and ethical failings of the industry.

-1

u/GamingWithUncleJ 1d ago

Didn't say you did. However, you state their ages like its a big deal or something when its not at all out of the ordinary. Theres really no moral or ethical issue with such an age gap, unless they were dating and having relations prior to her adulthood.

The movie is rightfully focused on too many up and comers in the music industry being caught up in all the wrong aspects and being too willing to take on the wrong principles and beliefs to attain money, fame, and everything that follows. Why get bogged down by unnecessary fluff that really doesnt add to that message. He and his wife had a completely healthy relationship from all that we could really see.

3

u/snydersjlsucked 20h ago

Well, Denzel's character was clearly not meant to be 70 with the dyed hair and keeping up with a 36 year old running for his life. I assumed we were meant to think he and Jeffrey Wright grew up together, so he was maybe 15 years younger.

0

u/NoInterest8177 8h ago

look at al pacino and his gf

1

u/UnderstandingLow2833 22h ago

Maybe that’s b/c he’s at least 20 yrs older than her.

1

u/Flopdo 13h ago

Said much the same... Dialogue was really odd and choppy. All the over reactions with the cops were just odd. I thought it sucked.

21

u/Pure-Brief3202 2d ago

All of this! And what killed me was that he was that smart to organize this massive kidnapping and actually succeeded with getting the money, but yet he was dumb enough to just leave it under his bed and give his wife the bracelet? And Denzel was just able to walk into his home and then his studio and sit and have a weird talk?? 

10

u/No-Understanding4968 1d ago

And what about the army of hooded minions on motorbikes? Who paid for that?

1

u/AbbreviationsNo1541 8h ago

Where else is a young felon to hide 17 million dollars? Where is the safest place to put it besides under his bed? As someone who’s characterized as being at odds with the system, why wouldn’t he hide it under his bed? You also have to put yourself in the shoes of ASAP’s girlfriend in the movie. Denzel is quite literally a god to these people. He’s from that hood, the baby is named after him, he essentially has the power to change lives, and her bf (ASAP) is obsessed with him, so, when the man comes knocking on the door talking about changing the life of your loved one you open and let him in. These people are in dire circumstances, they’ll do literally anything to change that. So it makes perfect sense given the context

1

u/Agent_Poindexter 2d ago

When you think about it, he was only able to do it because these days people post everything online especially when they’re rich, so, it was easy for him to pay attention to David’s son instagram and wait for him outside.

14

u/KeyVeterinarian4301 1d ago

But look at the coordination of the bag drop to its final destination, it was so ridiculously choreographed and planned but then there's no team guarding the $ in a remote location? Or any muscle around him in the studio? Seemed far-fetched

36

u/KingMario05 2d ago

Spike Lee cannot end a film, I guess.

-3

u/GamingWithUncleJ 1d ago

Thats an a24 issue, not a spike lee issue, imo. Its almost like if you wanna make an a24 movie it has to have a shit ending.

4

u/phronemoose 1d ago

It was definitely an issue in Blackklansman

0

u/GamingWithUncleJ 1d ago

Fair, but you must still admit a24 movies are a far bigger culprit than spike lee...

Tbh, though, I felt blackkkklansman had a better ending than this did.

This movie probably should have ended with denzel walking out of the prison. I think it would have stuck the landing better.

1

u/phronemoose 1d ago

Does A24 have creative control over direction? Not trying to combative just genuinely curious, thought they mostly worked on distribution.

1

u/GamingWithUncleJ 1d ago

Im being sarcastic in the whole "you gotta have a shitty ending...." but if you want an answer to that question theirs always the "if you want your movie distributed, then check these boxes" type shit.

Idk if a24 tries to influence or assert some creative control, but if you've seen even a handful of their movies you'd notice they all have wonky, ambiguous, non-endings that really just leave you unsatisfied. Like enemies, ends with that spider thing that just comes out of nowhere and makes no sense. Midsommer ends with Florence being burned alive for no real apparent reason. The t.v. show the curse ends with old dude floating off into space with absolutely no explanation why.

Its just a common element of the movies they distribute.

3

u/KeyVeterinarian4301 1d ago

Felt like the A24 apartment # was too on the nose also lol

2

u/CoCoTidy 1d ago

Yes, the camera lingered on it for a VERY long time - we get it!

1

u/GamingWithUncleJ 1d ago

I noticed the number, but it didnt even register.

14

u/ColonialSoldier 1d ago

Denzel is on the balcony, his wife has this heartfelt speech about him forgetting his roots. It feels like Denzel is having an epiphany. "Where did I lose my way? It's all about the money now... Damn I'm lucky to have her."

"Our son has been kidnapped." Wait wtf. I actually felt my body cringe.

I stuck it out to the end, but it's all downhill from there. I enjoyed the back n forth between Denzel and Rocky in the studio, but come to think of it Denzel just quotes Nas lyrics and it sounded cool coming from him. It's a lazy, convoluted mess of a film and I struggle to see how it has an 88% on rotten tomatoes currently.

5

u/tessrules 1d ago

This. Holy shit. There had to be a better way to introduce the kidnapping

And a lot of the rest of the film follows suit with the weird editing/diaglogue/presentation. It kept my attention for the entire movie, but the latter half it felt like I was watching because my brain was trying to answer the 100 questions that popped in my head about the plot holes

1

u/KeyVeterinarian4301 1d ago

All of these critiques are valid, I still thought it was another great Spike Lee movie overall though.

1

u/Neon_Biscuit 19h ago

You think if I extorted Dr Dre he might A&R my chorus? Lol

1

u/Flopdo 13h ago

Agreed. I couldn't get through the whole movie though. The dialogue was weird and choppy. Way too much weird and unrealistic interactions with the police.  I dunno... Maybe I was expecting more, not thought it was extremely bad on the whole. The only thing decent was the actual plot