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Spike Lee and Denzel Washington reunite for the fifth time in Highest 2 Lowest, a modern reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s revered 1963 thriller High and Low. Set in present-day New York, Lee casts Washington as David King, a music mogul pulled into a high-stakes ransom plot. Today’s theatrical release arrives after the film premiered at Cannes Film Festival, where it earned a six-minute standing ovation (and a rare Rihanna red carpet appearance).
This marks Washington and Lee’s first film together since 2006’s Inside Man, a collaboration Washington says was built on deep mutual trust. “There was only one person to do this. And I’m sitting next to him,” the actor recently told Vanity Fair.
Lee approached the project as “a jazz reinterpretation of a great film,” adding, “I knew if I was to do this, it had to be a reimagining. And it was right up my alley—a big, fat, juicy one coming down the middle of the plate. And I feel like I knocked it out.”
Washington sees the project as long overdue in his career. “In [most of] the time I’ve been an actor, I wouldn’t even have been allowed to play a part like this. No white directors were hiring us, and no studios were hiring us,” he told Vanity Fair. “That’s why I called Spike. I trust Spike, and he trusts me.”
Lee hopes audiences catch the film on the biggest screen possible. “No matter how big that TV on the wall in your home is, see it in theaters first,” he says. Washington added, “In the theaters, in the theaters, in the theaters. I’ll keep saying August 15.”
Is Highest 2 Lowest streaming yet?
Not yet, but soon. After debuting in theaters today, the film will land on Apple TV+ on Sept. 5, 2025, just 19 days later. Until then, you’ll need to catch it during its theatrical run. Take it from Lee—it’s worth seeing on the big screen.
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