Denzel Washington reunites with Spike Lee after two decades in trailer for kidnapping remake High...

Lee reimagines Akira Kurosawa's classic 1963 procedural &34;High and Low&34; for modernday New York City in his fifth collaboration with Washington. Denzel Wash

Lee reimagines Akira Kurosawa's classic 1963 procedural "High and Low" for modern-day New York City in his fifth collaboration with Washington.

Denzel Washington reunites with Spike Lee after two decades in trailer for kidnapping remake Highest 2 Lowest

Lee reimagines Akira Kurosawa's classic 1963 procedural "High and Low" for modern-day New York City in his fifth collaboration with Washington.

By Ryan Coleman

Published on August 4, 2025 10:00AM EDT

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Denzel Washington in 'Highest 2 Lowest'. Credit:

"Wake up y'all, the king's here."

Denzel Washington rouses viewers of the first trailer for Spike Lee's forthcoming *Highest 2 Lowest *with these words, which befit these two monarchs of cinema finally joining forces again after nearly two decades.

Lee and Washington last collaborated on one of the American icons' best films of the 2000s, *Inside Man*, released in 2006. They previously teamed up on the jazz-infused tragicomedy *Mo' Better Blues *(1990), the sports drama *He Got Game *(1998), and the towering classic *Malcolm X *(1992), which earned Washington his third Oscar nomination.

Back together after 19 years, Lee chose to draw on cinema history for this long-awaited reunion, updating Akira Kurosawa's classic 1963 procedural *High and Low *for the America of 2025.

"There's more to life than just making money," Washington intones in his unmistakable gravitas as David King, a powerful record executive angling to buy back control of the label he previously sold his majority stake in. But he's no ruthless corporate wolf; he's got a moral compass ("There's integrity, there's what you stand for"), which proves to be his potential undoing.

David, the role adapted from Toshirô Mifune's wealthy businessman in *High and Low*, becomes the victim of a botched kidnapping and extortion plot. The crook (A$AP Rocky), whose imperious voice booms through the trailer, mistakenly abducts Kyle (Elijah Wright), the son of David's friend and chauffeur, Paul (Jeffrey Wright), rather than the music exec's son Trey (Aubrey Joseph). David's ethics and ambition are pitted against each other as his soul — and Kyle's life — hang in the balance.

But further wrinkles develop, as David realizes he has more in common with the kidnapper than he thought.

"I know what it is to risk everything you have for something that you want. I know what that means, to have nothing and want everything," David tells him in the trailer.**

Spike Lee thinks 'Highest 2 Lowest' may be his final Denzel Washington collab due to actor's impending retirement

Denzel Washington gets into heated exchange with Cannes photographer: 'Stop it!'

The screenplay for *Highest 2 Lowest *was written by Alan Fox, whose previous credits include small acting roles in the films *The English Teacher *and *The Eyes*. The film costars Ilfenesh Hadera, Dean Winters, LaChanze, Wendell Pierce, and Ice Spice in her feature film debut.

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Denzel Washington stars in 'Highest 2 Lowest'.

*Highest 2 Lowest* premiered out of Competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. On the red carpet of the film's Cannes premiere, Lee suggested that *Highest 2 Lowest *may be his final collaboration with Washington, after the actor seemed to announce he planned to retire after his next string of projects.

"It's been a blessing to just have this body of work of us doing films that people love. I don't know if we're going to do any [more] — I think this is it: five," Lee said.

Washington has since clarified that he plans to be highly selective in his choices: "I'm less interested in running and jumping," he told BuzzFeed UK.**

*Highest 2 Lowest *premieres in theaters on August 15, followed by its release on Apple TV+ on September 5.

Original Article on Source

Source: "AOL Movies"

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