After four unforgettable collaborations — from Malcolm X to Inside Man — Denzel Washington and Spike Lee are back together again in Highest 2 Lowest, a sleek, high-stakes crime thriller coming later this year from A24 and Apple TV+ that blends social commentary with moral complexity, all wrapped in the visual flair of modern-day New York City.
Their fifth outing together is a reinterpretation of High and Low, Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 masterwork, which itself was inspired by Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King’s Ransom. The novel tells a story about an executive who faces a dilemma when his chauffeur’s son gets kidnapped instead of his own: Does he expend his fortune to get the kid back, or keep his money and in so doing preserve his business? In Highest 2 Lowest, the corporate world gives way to the music industry — and the tension is amplified by a story that still hits as hard as ever.
Washington stars as a legendary music mogul, a man with the “best ears in the business,” who finds himself the target of a ransom plot. As the clock ticks, he faces an impossible choice that could cost him everything — his fortune, his future, and even his soul. With a script by William Alan Fox and a cast that also includes A$AP Rocky and Ice Spice, Highest 2 Lowest delivers noir-style tension filtered through the lens of fame and sacrifice. And more than that, this is yet another 2025 Apple movie release (along with Brad Pitt’s F1) that stands a good chance of being one of the biggest film events of the year.
Premiering at Cannes later this month, Highest 2 Lowest hits US theaters on August 22 before streaming globally on Apple TV+ starting September 5. And if the teaser below is any indication — featuring Washington asking at one point with steel in his voice, “Can you handle the mayhem?” — this one’s going to live in your head long after the credits roll.
