Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

4/10

Starring           

Denzel Washington

Jeffrey Wright

Ilfenesh Hadera

ASAP Rocky

 

Directed by Spike Lee

What is my take on this movie?

It is an average to poor movie, I am disappointed in the movie as a whole, because the story played out like a low-budget hood movie, but here we have A-class production, with A-class actors.

First, I did not like the musical score at all, it reminded me of Disney’s Homeward Bound 90s soundtrack, it was a complete tonal mismatch for a crime thriller.

The movie is predictable when the going starts, but regular Spike Lee style, the pace of the movie picks up when the real matter starts, and at that point it is captivating, but the next question is, “how long is the wait for this start?” More than half-way into the movie.

The movie starts slow at a pace that will make even a regular movie watcher want to actually switch to something else. Also, the movie’s dialogue and the movie’s message about Hip-Hop culture, the black community’s contribution to the music industry, and the evolution of modern technology felt more like a rehearsed poem. Every reference to this comes up sounding recited, there was no soul or emotional twang to it. This can be because the supporting cast of the movie gave just above average acting performance compared to Denzel’s magnificence, or it could be that these statements were disjointed from the story, maybe they are best implied than said in speeches.

The film follows David King (Denzel Washington), a wealthy New York music mogul at the height of his career, but the modern world is pushing him out, and he feels he is about to lose everything. So he decides to take back control and as he prepares to buy out his partner and take full control of his business, a sudden kidnapping happens. This unforeseen incident forces him into a crisis that tests his finances, reputation, and morals, pulling him in two opposing directions.

Another thing in the movie is the way the character Archie "Yung Felon" played by ASAP Rocky was acted. It was done in the stereotypical black man hip-hop rapper from the hood, talking in ways nobody does, using words like he is doing a music video performance. You would have expected better from a movie done by Spike Lee.

In the end, if you are not familiar with American black culture or American culture in general, many of the things in the movie will go over your head. I still believe Spike Lee did tried, in the way he was attempting to merge all these genres into this movie, but the problem is to be able to appreciate the work he was trying to do, you will need to be patient and get over the slow pacing.

In the end, I do not recommend this movie at all.