Ben Affleck's Netflix Film 'Animals' Faces Scrutiny for Plot Similarities to Spike Lee's 'Highest 2 Lowest'

Ben Affleck's new Netflix film, 'Animals,' which has been trending as the platform's No. 1 movie since its release, features a plot twist that closely mirrors that of Spike Lee's 2025 crime thriller 'Highest 2 Lowest.' The surprising narrative similarity has drawn attention, prompting Affleck to consider abandoning 'Animals' just weeks before production was set to begin.

'Animals' stars Affleck as a wealthy lawyer independently financing a campaign for mayor of Los Angeles. The plot thickens when his son is kidnapped, leading him to hire a mysterious woman to negotiate the ransom. As the situation unfolds, hidden secrets between Affleck's character and his wife, played by Kerry Washington, come to light. The film's central twist reveals that the kidnapper mistakenly abducted the wrong child – the son of an undocumented immigrant working as a housekeeper for Affleck's character. This child had been trick-or-treating in an identical costume to Affleck's son.

This precise plot point is also the central twist in Spike Lee's 'Highest 2 Lowest,' starring Denzel Washington. Lee's film is itself a modern American adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 Japanese film 'High and Low,' which was based on Ed McBain's 1959 novel 'King's Ransom.' In both 'Animals' and 'Highest 2 Lowest,' the wealthy father ultimately decides to pay the ransom for the kidnapped child, who is the son of an employee.

In 'Highest 2 Lowest,' Denzel Washington plays music producer David King, whose driver and longtime friend, Paul (Jeffrey Wright), has his son kidnapped. King is initially reluctant to pay the $17.5 million ransom for someone else's child. However, his business partner convinces him that failing to pay and allowing the child to die would irreparably damage his reputation and the label's. King reluctantly agrees to pay, with the understanding that law enforcement will recover the money later.

Similarly, in 'Animals,' Affleck's character, Mark, is persuaded to pay the ransom by his campaign manager, who emphasizes the importance of maintaining his reputation with Latino voters. This decision is made instead of involving the police.

Affleck told Entertainment Weekly that he was unaware of Lee's film until shortly before production was scheduled to begin. "We get very close to shooting, and then somebody said to me, ‘Hey, you know, there’s this other movie that Spike [Lee] and Denzel [Washington] are doing that’s about a kidnapping,’ And I was like, ‘Oh, shit,’" Affleck recounted. He did not consider 'Animals' to be another adaptation of McBain's novel and believed his film was sufficiently distinct, stating, "What I’m really interested in is something wholly apart from, I think, what these other movies are dealing with."

Despite Affleck's perspective, critical reception for 'Animals' has been lukewarm. The film holds a 32 percent critics score and a 42 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Many viewers reportedly found the reveal of the kidnapper as an outsider, rather than an "insider" as hinted throughout the film, to be disappointing.

The publication recommends 'Highest 2 Lowest' on Apple TV+ as a more satisfying viewing experience, noting that while Lee's film has a slow start and a distracting score, it gains momentum after its twist. The review praises Lee's energetic portrayal of modern New York and highlights an exceptional subway action sequence, along with strong performances from Denzel Washington and ASAP Rocky.