A24 debuted the official trailer for Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee’s much‑anticipated neo‑noir thriller, based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 Japanese-language film High and Low, that reunites him with Denzel Washington for the first time in nearly two decades.
Washington stars as David King, a music mogul celebrated for having the “best ears in the business,” whose life spirals into chaos when he becomes the target of a ransom plot in contemporary New York City. The stellar ensemble includes Jeffrey Wright (as his loyal chauffeur Paul), Ilfenesh Hadera (as David’s wife Pam), A$AP Rocky (as the unexpected kidnapper), and Ice Spice in her feature‑film debut.
Highest 2 Lowest had its world premiere out of competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where Washington received an honorary Palme d’Or. The film is scheduled to open theatrically in the U.S. on August 15, 2025, followed by a global streaming release on Apple TV+ on September 5, 2025.
Here is the synopsis: “When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the “best ears in the business”, is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. Brothers Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for the 5th in their long working relationship for a reinterpretation of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller High and Low, now played out on the mean streets of modern day New York City.”
Spike Lee has spoken passionately the film, including about casting A$AP Rocky in the role of the kidnapper/rapper, saying on The Tonight Show, “Yeah, don’t sleep on A$AP. In this film, Denzel and A$AP go toe-to-toe.” He added, “I’ve done five films with Denzel, and a lot of times when he’s in a scene with somebody, they just get overwhelmed. He’s one of the greatest living actors today, but A$AP wasn’t having that. Toe-to-toe, I mean, they were going at it.”
Watch the official trailer for Highest 2 Lowest. (see teaser trailer)
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