Spike Lee just dropped the official poster and streaming date for Highest 2 Lowest, his highly anticipated crime thriller starring Denzel Washington, A$AP Rocky, and Jeffrey Wright. The film, which marks the fifth collaboration between Lee and Washington, is a modern reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 psychological noir High and Low, this time retooled with a New York edge.
Washington plays a once-dominant music producer with a faltering career whose world is turned upside down after he believes his son has been kidnapped. But, of course, in true Spike Lee fashion, things are much more complicated than they appear.
Set between the high-rises of the East River and the streets of Brighton Beach, Highest 2 Lowest centers around Washington’s character, a man clinging to his legacy while confronting a world that no longer sees his value.
Rapper-turned-actor Rakim Mayers, better known as A$AP Rocky, plays a pivotal role alongside Washington and Wright. This is Rocky’s most serious role to date, though he has previously appeared in films like Zoolander 2 and Monster.
It’s been nearly two decades since Lee and Washington teamed up, with their last outing being Inside Man in 2006. Lee, who has called Denzel “one of the greatest to ever do it,” brings out a different energy in Washington, raw, intellectual, and deeply personal.
Their previous collaborations, Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man, have become classics. Now, Highest 2 Lowest looks poised to join that canon, especially after receiving an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes following its Cannes debut.
The film hits theaters August 15, before arriving on Apple TV+ on September 5.
