Highest 2 Lowest (2025) reviews

The Fuzzy Mushroom take on Highest 2 Lowest

By Fuzzy Mushroom · Updated 15 November 2026 · The Pros 82 · The Punters 42 · Spore Score 74 · How we write our takes

Why The Pros and The Punters split

Highest 2 Lowest has one of the widest critic-audience gaps of any big 2025 release. The Pros give it 82, The Punters only 42, a 40-point gap, and the Spore Score comes out at 74, a fuzzy result. Critics mostly celebrated Spike Lee and Denzel Washington working together again and enjoyed the film's loud, stylised energy. Many viewers who found it at home were less convinced, put off by the long running time, the heightened tone and a thriller that is in less of a hurry than they expected.

What it is

Spike Lee's reworking of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 thriller High and Low, itself based on an Ed McBain novel, moves the story to present-day New York and the music business. Denzel Washington plays David King, a powerful record executive who is about to stake everything on a deal when a kidnapper takes the wrong child and demands a ransom from him anyway. Jeffrey Wright and A$AP Rocky co-star. It premiered at Cannes in 2025, had a short cinema run in August and then arrived on Apple TV+ in September.

What it does well

Washington is commanding, and the moral question at its heart, whether a rich man should pay to save a child who is not his own, still works. Lee fills the city with music and colour, and the big set pieces, including a ransom drop staged during a packed Puerto Rican Day Parade, are bold, busy film-making. Fans of the pair's earlier films together will enjoy seeing them reunited.

Where it falls short

The style is heavy. A busy score, characters who explain their feelings out loud and a long final stretch make it feel more like a big-stage drama than a tense thriller. Viewers who know the Kurosawa original may also feel it loses some of that film's cold precision.

Who it is for

Washington fans, admirers of Spike Lee, and anyone who enjoys a big New York movie with plenty to say. If you want a tight, twisty kidnap thriller, the original High and Low may suit you better.

The Fuzzy Mushroom verdict

Worth a watch, with a Spore Score of 74. A stylish, star-led remake that critics loved far more than the people streaming it at home, so check your taste for Lee's maximal style before pressing play.