After a five-year break from features, Spike Lee returned to multiplexes via 2025's Highest 2 Lowest. This one brought a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 production High and Low.

Music mogul David King (Denzel Washington) sold his shares in the label he founded but he now wants to recapture controlling interest to avoid a takeover by a rival. To do so, he uses many of his valuable personal assets as collateral.

Right before David plans to seal this deal, kidnappers demand a fortune to return his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) and David agrees - except it turns out they abducted Kyle (Elijah Wright), Trey's friend and the son of David's employee Paul Christopher (Jeffrey Wright). While willing to shell out the dough for his own family, David seems torn about whether to extend this "investment" to someone else.

Though this website includes a review of the Kurosawa film, I didn't write it. Indeed, I never enjoyed any experience with the property until I gave Lowest a go.

A little digging reveals an interesting fact: Kurosawa’s High and Low actually adapted an American thriller novel, Ed McBain's 1959 work King's Ransom. A 2025 US film based on a 1963 Japanese movie based on a 1959 American book seems like a curious path.

Anyway, while I'd like to see High and Low at some point, obviously that won't occur before I write this review. At least that means my opinions won't enter Lee’s flick influenced by my feelings about the Kurosawa version.

I guess this allows me to examine the Lee edition with an open mind. I now feel more curious to watch the Kurosawa Low because Lee’s production becomes spotty.

Lowest does get better as it goes, but its first hour struggles to gain momentum. Even though the plot points should build tension, Lee meanders so much that the opening 60-something minutes drag.

It doesn’t help that Lee can’t get out of his own way. Always self-indulgent, Lee too often uses Lowest to showcase his own fetishes.

This means the movie often feels like the NYC tourism bureau sponsored it, as we get a seemingly endless series of sequences that highlight the pleasure of life in the Big Apple. Lee engages in ridiculous shots like one in which a Yankees fan shouts “Boston sucks” right into the camera.

Even without wall-breaking distractions such as that, Lee editorializes far too much to serve the story at hand. Look, I’ve seen enough Lee movies to understand he’ll always clumsily inject his opinions into his work.

Even by Lee’s standards, though, he goes over the top here. For instance, he comments on the overuse of smartphones, the co-opting of Black culture, the ways corporations dumb down creativity, the insidious influence of AI, and on and on.

While these choices may exist as Lee’s trademarks, they detract from the story at hand. Again, I get that this is who Lee is as a filmmaker and he won’t change now, but that doesn’t make his tendencies any less problematic.

When Lee allows the story to breath without these adornments, Lowest does pretty well for itself. As noted, it improves as it progresses because Lee concentrates on narrative and themes to a more significant degree.

That upward trend can’t quite save Lowest, though, partly because it feels like a 90-minute movie Lee stretches to 133 minutes so he can cram in all his winks and asides. If Lee reined in his indulgent impulses, this would turn into a much better film.

Highest 2 Lowest appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. A native 4K production, the Dolby Vision image looked good, if not quite as stellar as one might expect.

Sharpness usually worked well, though softness crept in during some wider shots. Still, the majority of the flick brought accurate elements.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering manifested, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws remained absent.

Colors leaned toward ambers and teals. These came across as intended, with some extra sparkle at times thanks to HDR.

Blacks appeared deep and firm, while low-light shots became well-depicted. HDR have whites and contrast extra punch. The occasional soft shot kept the image from greatness but it still worked nicely.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack offered a reasonably engaging affair. However, don’t expect great theatrics from the track.

Much of the mix concentrated on music, as both score and songs brought appealing breadth. Effects didn’t become a major factor most of the time, though a few showier scenes – like those related to the ransom drop – used the various channels in a more active manner.

Audio quality satisfied, with dialogue that remained concise and distinctive. Music became full and rich.

Effects demonstrated good clarity and accuracy, without obvious distortion. While not a dazzling soundtrack, the mix suited the story.

A few extras appear, and King’s Ransom runs 17 minutes, 24 seconds. It brings notes from director Spike Lee, writer Alan Fox, producer Peter Guber, production designer Mark Friedberg, and actors Denzel Washington, A$AP Rocky, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, Aubrey Joseph, and Eddie Palmieri.

The reel looks at the project's path to the screen, story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations. A few decent notes emerge but most of "Ransom" feels fluffy.

Legends Only lasts 15 minutes, 32 seconds and provides a chat between Lee and Washington as they discuss their relationship and history as well as some aspects of Lowest. Most of this feels insubstantial, but I like Washington's discussion of losing the Oscar to Al Pacino in 1992.

The disc ends with a music video for “Highest 2 Lowest” by Aiyana-Lee. Directed by Spike Lee, we follow Aiyana-Lee around New York and that's about it, so it seems like a pretty dull clip.

Like apparently all A24 releases, this one comes with six Photo Cards that offer elements that reflect the movie’s characters and situations. They seem clever.

For better or for worse, Spike Lee puts his own stamp on Highest 2 Lowest, a remake of an Akira Kurosawa flick. Like many Lee movies, the end product shows glimmers but remains too erratic and self-indulgent to fully click. The 4K UHD comes with generally positive picture and audio as well as minor supplements. Although Lowest brings positives, it doesn’t connect consistently.