The latest work of the New York-based filmmaker, Spike Lee, happens to be an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film, High and Low, but Highest 2 Lowest has a surprisingly modern take on class parity and adds even more layers to the drama, to great effect. The plot follows an NYC music mogul, named David King, whose plan of buying out his business partner’s stake coincides with his son apparently getting kidnapped, resulting in immense panic in his family. Overall, Highest 2 Lowest firmly manages to get its points across, and the cultural backdrop of New York City is an added bonus, making the film even more enjoyable.
Spoiler Alert
What is the Film about?
Highest 2 Lowest begins with David King, a music mogul with countless musicians and artists releasing tracks and albums under his label, feeling excited about a certain business prospect. David is currently associated with Stackin’ Hit Records, a music label that he had created many years ago and that has now become easily the biggest music production company in the city, and one of the biggest in the country. Despite this immense success, David had sold off his majority stake in the company a few years earlier, because he had not predicted the constant growth and also because he wanted to take some time off from his professional responsibilities of finding new artists and bringing them under the label.
However, his opinion of the company has changed once again, because of which David wants to now become the majority shareholder at Stackin’ Hit Records and spend all his time and effort in building his career as a music producer even stronger, much to the dismay of his wife, Pam. Contrary to his feelings, Pam rightly believes that he has already earned quite enough money, fame, and respect from the outside world and that he should now try to get closer to his family. But nothing can stop David from pursuing his ambitions, as he feels let down by the newer advancements in the world of music, especially with the introduction of artificial intelligence, and so he feels that his return to a more responsible role will also be like his personal crusade to support young Black artists once again.
In his pursuit to buy out his partner, Patrick Bethea’s shares, and protect his music empire from being potentially taken over by the rival Stray Dog Enterprises, David clearly slacks off on spending time with his family like he had earlier promised to do. He does not have the closest of bonds with his teenage son, Trey, and although he is sometimes quite strict with the boy, he is never present to show his love for his son. Despite promising to watch and support Trey at his basketball gym, David ultimately decides against it to go attend a meeting at his office, stating that he is only postponing the father-son bonding session for now. However, David King soon starts to regret this decision after he receives a call from a stranger, who demands a whopping 17.5 million dollar ransom in exchange for Trey’s safety, as the teenager has been kidnapped.
Was Trey really kidnapped?
After getting the first ransom call, David understandably panics and informs the authorities about his son’s kidnapping, which immediately kicks off a search for the missing teenager. A team of NYPD detectives moves into the King residence within just minutes of David’s call, and it is very evident that all this is very partial treatment for the family because of their stature and influence. They speak with the family members to find out about Trey’s last known movements, but surprisingly do not ever consider the possibility that the boy might have gone somewhere by himself. While Trey should have technically been at the basketball training facility, his absence at the place is immediately taken to be a concerning situation. The urgency that the police department shows is clearly because of it being a high-profile case, and also since Trey’s disappearance is already being reported on the internet and even on TV news programs.
Interestingly, David’s chauffeur and friend, Paul Christopher, is treated with suspicion by all of the police detectives, and for a number of reasons. Paul is David’s childhood friend, as they had grown up in the same neighborhood, and it is evident that Paul did have a rough youth, because of which he has a criminal record. The detectives consider the possibility that Paul might have kidnapped Trey and is now secretly demanding ransom because of two major reasons—first, the social and financial divide between Paul and David, despite their friendship, and secondly, because of Paul’s criminal past. However, a third major, and in fact the most significant, reason is also revealed soon after, as Paul Christopher happens to be a practicing Muslim. The NYPD detectives and police officers are very openly Islamophobic in their treatment of the man, especially in immediately suspecting that the Muslim man in the house could be the perpetrator.
However, that is far from the truth, as Trey is soon found by the police, and it is revealed that he had never been kidnapped. When Trey had left home that morning, he had been wearing a green headband, which must have been noticed by the perpetrator. But during basketball practice, Trey had let his best friend, Kyle, wear the headband, since the latter had always wanted similar headgear. When the two teenagers then left practice for a quick lunch break and had separated from each other temporarily, the kidnappers had picked up Kyle, believing him to be Trey. Therefore, when they called David up and demanded a ransom, they still did not know about their silly mix-up. When Trey could not find Kyle anywhere, despite them having decided to meet up and have lunch together, he kept on looking for his friend, which was why he was temporarily missing. Most importantly, Kyle happens to be the son of Paul Christopher, and so David King still remains involved with the case.
Why does David agree to pay the ransom money?
One of the main themes in Highest 2 Lowest starts to be introduced into the plot after Trey returns home safely, and it is revealed that it is Kyle who has been kidnapped. The economic disparity in society and how it determines what people think of someone is one of the crucial matters that the film wants us to think about, and it also comments on the unavoidable influence that wealth plays on personal relationships as well. When Pam first tells David that they should most definitely pay the ransom money and rescue their son by giving in to the demands of the kidnapper, he takes a moment to think about it.
After all, the 17.5 million dollars would have to come from a fat loan that he had recently taken from investors for the sole purpose of buying out his record label, and paying the ransom would essentially mean that he will no longer be able to buy his partner’s shares. However, David convinces himself to pay the ransom only in a matter of seconds, as his priorities are immediately set straight in his mind, and he wants to save his son at any cost. The situation takes a twist, though, when Trey returns home, and it is revealed the ransom money is required for Kyle instead. This time around, David does not want to pay the large amount, and he is suddenly concerned about the ethics of paying money to cruel kidnappers, which is like encouraging them to commit more crimes. In reality, he does not want to part with the investment money, which would make him the major stakeholder in the most successful record label, in order to save the son of his chauffeur. Despite their deep and genuine friendship, which does exist even now, David initially does not want to help Paul save his son.
The financial divide between them is made apparent by him on a few instances as well, especially when Paul suggests that he pay the ransom money as a sort of personal loan. It is definitely their friendship that allows David to honestly assess the situation and state that Paul would never be able to earn that sort of money, let alone pay him back. But the fact that their relationship is affected by the strange situation, which directly demands a lot of money, is quite evident in this phase of the film. Moreover, David finally agrees to pay the ransom to save Kyle, because it will be beneficial for his company, and his image will be negatively affected otherwise.
Sure, Trey plays an important role, as he keeps asking his father to help save his best friend, but David very clearly states, during one intense moment, that he is not someone to bow down to his son’s demands. When the detectives ask David to pay the ransom to the kidnappers, with the guarantee that he will get the money back, he seemingly understands that his reputation will take a massive hit if he does not go ahead with the plan. It is not like David does not care about Paul and Kyle, but his relation with them is affected by his wealth and his personal projects, and money makes him momentarily prioritize his plan to buy out the record label and his personal reputation among the people over his concern for them.
How do David and Paul find the kidnapper?
The police’s plan to catch the kidnappers right after David pays them the ransom fails, as they are quickly able to exchange the bag full of cash before getting caught. The real perpetrator also gets away, and only a man who had been hired to drive around on his moped is arrested in the operation. But Kyle is released by the kidnappers, and he is soon taken to the hospital to treat his injuries and traumas. It is when Kyle recalls some specific lines of a song that he kept hearing while in captivity that the identity of the real kidnapper is revealed. Trey, who had an active interest in his father’s music label, would often give the man lists of new and young artists, who were mostly unheard of except for in the underground scene. David now recognizes the lines recalled by Kyle from a song by a rapper-singer known as Yung Felon, and immediately realizes that he must have been the kidnapper. After all, David is widely considered to have the best ear in the music industry.
It is Paul’s connections, apparently to the criminal network, that ultimately help them get Yung’s address, and in this context, director Spike Lee does a good job in fleshing out his characters. Paul has left his criminal life behind and is indeed now a reformed man, but not completely so. He still has friends and contacts in the gangs, who help him trace the young man he is looking for, and even more crucially, Paul still carries guns with him. In fact, David too goes back to the times when he too was involved in shady and criminal matters, when he was just a young man trying to carve out a successful life. He now gets a gun and uses it to confront Yung Felon. The latter shoots at David, injuring Paul in the process, and tries to escape on a train. But ultimately, David catches up to the young man and beats him unconscious, resulting in his arrest by the police.
What happens to Yung Felon in the end?
David’s conversation with Yung Felon during his confrontation is quite important, as he initially tries to convince the rapper to return the money without causing any more chaos and states that he now understands his reasons. Once again, the class divide, along with the financial hierarchy in society, becomes pertinent in this context, as we learn of Yung Felon’s motive. A young musician with hopes of making it big in life, Yung was a dedicated fan of David, and he even started following his family members on social media just to keep updated about the family’s activities. All Yung wanted was a chance to meet with David and have him listen to his music, but he was never given the chance to do so. Whenever he tried to approach the family or get to David at his office, he was denied and turned away by the guards.
The frustration at not being able to progress in his music career, combined with the jealousy and anger at David’s family members for their flashy posts on social media, made Yung take the criminal route, which he always had an affinity towards because of his difficult upbringing. Ultimately, the kidnapping plan does work out for him, as his songs top the charts after his identity as the real criminal who had kidnapped Kyle is revealed. People are always intrigued by the intersection of crime and music, or any form of art, for that matter, and so he suddenly becomes popular without being represented by any label, meaning that he achieves his end goal, though not in the way that he had planned to.
However, there is no happy ending for Yung Felon, as he is still a criminal who will have to face the consequences of his actions. He takes a plea deal and accepts a sentence of 25 years in prison, with the hope that David will sign him on as an artist under Stackin’ Hits Records. Yung believes that he has made it in life, despite his misdeeds, and so he feels that every record label will now jump to sign him. But David refuses to work with him in any capacity, not only because he does not want him to achieve his goals through crime, but also because he genuinely does not want to promote Yung’s music because of its quality. Ultimately, Yung Felon is seen being dragged back into his cell, where he will have to spend 25 long years. While his popularity at present might ease his pains a bit or even give him a second chance after his release from prison, he still has to face the consequences of his crimes at present.
Does David King buy out Stackin’ Hits Records?
David’s plan of buying his partner’s shares in Stackin’ Hits Records gets sidelined because of the kidnapping, but the fact that he pays the ransom money from the amount that he had borrowed from his investors lands him in trouble. The investors now want him to return the money within a week, because they had trusted him with it solely for the purpose of him becoming the biggest shareholder in the music production company. They do not want to be part of any ransom payment, which is basically a personal matter of David, and so he has to arrange for the money. This is exactly why he sets out on the dangerous path of finding Yung Felon, to retrieve the ransom money and return it to his investors. He does manage to do so as well, but ultimately changes his opinion about buying out Stackin’ Hits Records.
Through his experiences, David realizes how he had been growing distant from the music that he loved and wanted to produce and how he too had been focused on the financial aspect of supporting artists. Despite earlier complaining about trashy music and the implementation of AI in music composition, he too would have been enabling a system where AI would definitely be used in the future, because of purely financial reasons. In Highest 2 Lowest’s ending, David understands that he will not be able to support his choices as part of Stackin’ Hits Records, and so he decides to sell off all his shares in the company completely so that he can start his own small music production company. His new label is also a family-run business, as he lets both Pam and Trey play active roles in it.
David even offers Paul and Kyle positions in the company, but the chauffeur chooses to not get further involved with the King family, not because of any ill feelings but simply because he wants Trey, and also himself, to seek a future in a different line. Paul and Kyle continue to be friends with the family. Highest 2 Lowest ends with David giving a young woman named Sula the chance to perform her music in front of him, as a sort of demo, and he is overwhelmed by her graceful singing. Sula is exactly the kind of artist that David wants to promote, as they are often overlooked by the money-minded music industry of present times, and so he signs her as the first artist under his new label.
