'Highest 2 Lowest' is a tour of Spike Lee's many influences

By Linda Holmes,

Aisha Harris, Liz Metzger, Janae Morris, Mike Katzif, Jessica Reedy, Soraya Nadia McDonald

Published August 18, 2025 at 9:15 AM EDT

Denzel Washington in Highest 2 Lowest. — Denzel Washington in *Highest 2 Lowest*.

Spike Lee's new crime thriller Highest 2 Lowest reunites him with his favorite leading man, Denzel Washington. The film is based on Akira Kurosawa's classic High and Low, and it's a tense story about a very rich man with a very big problem. Part morality play and part action movie, Washington plays a music mogul who confronts questions of responsibility and power when he believes his son has been kidnapped.

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Linda Holmes

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.

See stories by Linda Holmes

Aisha Harris

Aisha Harris is a host of Pop Culture Happy Hour.

See stories by Aisha Harris

Liz Metzger

Janae Morris

Mike Katzif

Jessica Reedy

See stories by Jessica Reedy

Soraya Nadia McDonald

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