Overview

• Spike Lee modernizes Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low by recasting the ransom plot around a wrongful kidnapping in New York’s music business.
• The film opens in U.S. theaters on August 15 and will stream on Apple TV+ on September 5 after earning a standing ovation at Cannes.
• Early reviews cite a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score, praising Denzel Washington’s commanding lead turn and electrifying street-action sequences.
• Critics critique the film’s slow-building first act and describe Howard Drossin’s orchestral score as mismatched and distracting.
• The ensemble cast—featuring Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, Ilfenesh Hadera, Ice Spice, Aubrey Joseph and Elijah Wright—adds depth to the moral stakes of the narrative.