We're seeing the legacy of Akira Kurosawa whose High and Low (1963) continues to reverberate. There was an unauthorized remake called Inkaar (1977). Reportedly, Martin Scorsese was going to do a remake in 1993 that got aborted. A Japanese TV series was made based on Kurosawa's film in 2007. HBO Max also did a series called Full Circle (2023) that was inspired by Kurosawa's classic. Spike Lee only a year prior did a reinterpretation called Highest 2 Lowest (2025). This film, directed and co-written by Ben Affleck, with co-writers Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray (Captain Phillips and The Hunger Games), is clearly taking its queue from Kurosawa's 1963 piece of cinema. There are obvious deviations in what gets the focus here.
Ben Affleck (Argo and Good Will Hunting) stars as Mark Kimball, a man who is former military. He's had various other jobs, including a teacher and lawyer. He's now running to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. He's racked up a bit of wealth, so he's been financing his own campaign. He's probably done some fundraising, but likely hasn't gotten huge donors. As such, he's had to foot the bill for huge expenses like TV advertising. The election is approaching and he's leveraged everything he has, even his home. If he loses the mayor-ship, he'll go bankrupt.
Kerry Washington (Confirmation and Scandal) co-stars as Abigail Kimball, or Abby. She's the wife to Mark and the mother to their son. She also works as a therapist. It's not clear how supportive she was at the beginning, but it seems as if the campaign has had a toll of her relationship with Mark. As a result, she's having an affair with a younger man named Ron, played by Ray Fisher (The Piano Lesson and Zack Snyder's Justice League). Ron wants her to leave Mark, but she doesn't want to disrupt her son's family. It's not her top concern but disrupting the campaign isn't what she wants either. The affair with Ron becomes a talking point later in the film, but Ray Fisher essentially only has one scene in this film, which is a shame. Fisher is such an incredible talent. Having him not featured more was very disappointing.
Things change when on the night of Halloween, Mark and Abby get a call that their son has been kidnapped and the ransom is $7 million, money they don't have any more. They would have had it if Mark hadn't foot the bill for all the campaign finances, but as of Halloween, he has nothing. There's a twist that occurs that if anyone has seen High and Low, then you know what that twist is, but if you haven't seen the 1963 film or any of the aforementioned remakes, then that twist might come as a surprise. Before spoiling it, I will say that the deviations that Affleck makes from High and Low or even Highest 2 Lowest are both interesting and puzzling. I'm not sure what the point is. Kurosawa's film and a lot of the remakes were trying to comment on socioeconomic class warfare or the divide between the rich and the poor. Affleck seems to be commenting on politics and what it takes to win. I'm not convinced that the film sells that point all that well.
Gillian Anderson (The Crown and The X-Files) also co-stars as Dayle Burton, a woman who is a fixer. She's a very wealthy woman who is called to solve security issues or handle emergency situations for wealthy or very powerful people. She's a crisis manager and usually one that's called when the cops can't be called. If one has seen Kerry Washington in Scandal, as Olivia Pope, then you'll recognize that Dayle Burton is basically the Olivia Pople of this feature. Except, Dayle seems motivated solely by money. Olivia Pope made sure she got paid, but Olivia's motivations were for a better democracy and justice. Olivia had a sense of morality, whereas Dayle here appears to be amoral. She in fact presents an immoral solution and the film is perhaps wrestling with that immorality to some degree. Unfortunately, the film doesn't wrestle with it enough.
Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!
The twist of this film is that Mark and Abby think their son, Denny, has been kidnapped. Yet, it's revealed that their son wasn't actually kidnapped. A child was abducted, but it was a boy named Hector who is the son of the nanny that works for Mark and Abby. The night of Halloween, Denny and Hector are wearing the same costume, so the kidnapper confuses Hector for Denny. Mark and Abby get Mark's campaign manager, Sam, played by Steven Yeun (Minari and Beef), to call Dayle who demands a certain amount regardless of the outcome. She's already brought the ransom when Denny shows up unharmed and safe. The quandary, which was in the Kurosawa film, is whether the wealthy parents should pay the ransom for the son of the poor parents. This film makes that quandary interesting by adding a racial component, and a political one. Hector is the son of Latino immigrants. One of whom is undocumented. Navigating the morality versus the political optics of what they should or should not do becomes interesting.
Unfortunately, this film doesn't explore the morality or optics beyond a certain point-of-view. High and Low and the remakes reveal the kidnapper, having him as more of a presence in the narrative. Yes, this film has the kidnapper as a voice on the phone, but he's not as much of a character here as he was in the Kurosawa flick or even the Spike Lee version. The character gets to express his motives and we get to see more about the kidnapper's personal life in those previous films or shows. Here, we don't get that kind of insight into the kidnapper other than minor things gleaned from his voice. Doing so could have helped to flesh out the immoral solution provided by Dayle. Without that insight or fleshing out, the ending here is not as satisfying, given that the kidnapper is a faceless, malevolent force. Kurosawa and Spike Lee made their kidnappers more human, more of an aggrieved person with a sympathetic backstory.
Rated R for language, some violence, and sexual references.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 46 mins.
Available on Netflix.
