Relay Movie Review

Relay (2024)

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Written by: Justin Piasecki
Directed by: David Mackenzie
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A world-class “fixer” brokers lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten to blow the whistle breaks his own rules when a new client seeks his protection to stay alive.

Verdict
What a surprise. This is a great thriller that enlivens a typical formula with clever spy craft. It's intense from the first scene, never relenting. The inventive subterfuge alone would be enough to give this a chance, but this manages to thread the needle until the very end. It's much more than I expected and better than I had hoped. While it does fall into the cliche of the professional falling for a client, that's also necessary to provide the intended stakes for the conclusion.
Watch It.

Review
Mackenzie previously directed Hell or High Water.

The first scene is some kind of meeting between a whistleblower and the company he intended to expose. After harassment from the company, the whistleblower now wants the situation to end.

Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a fixer, negotiating settlements between companies and whistleblowers. The information involved can be catastrophic for companies and many will stop at nothing to prevent the release of information. Ash keeps a copy of the information while ensuring the company gets the original to ensure the company adheres to the agreement.

Riz Ahmed plays Ash

Sarah Grant (Lily James) has information about her company that she brought up as an issue. They harassed and then fired her. She doesn't want to blow the whistle, she just wants to give the information back so she doesn't have to live in fear of retaliation. She's been completely pushed out of her industry. She's directed to Ash.

Ash uses a phone relay service for the deaf. It's such a slick idea. No one hears his voice nor can he be tracked. The relay service acts an intermediary for his clients, and they keep no records. This concept alone makes the movie really neat. The relay service exists in reality, though it's national and not local as portrayed.

Lily James plays Sarah Grant

Ash agrees to take Sarah as a client, sending her a phone and telling her he'll make a number of odd requests. That's to gauge her situation and determine what she's facing. He has Sarah take a number of flights so he can determine who is following her. He also has her mail a package. Since he's using a mail forwarding service and that's separate from the mail tracking service, the goons following Sarah, led by Dawson (Sam Worthington), can't follow the package. Ash gets the information, and the company's mercenaries still don't know who they're up against, but they do realize he's a professional.

All this work Ash has seemingly put in to get to this point, he risks it all by getting too close. It's the old cliche of falling for a client. While I don't like the trope, it is necessary to create the foundation for the third act. That's and I'd guess his clients aren't typically so attractive. Ash and Sarah are facing formidable opposition that seems to have an impressive bank roll. Sarah's doing what she can, but she doesn't have the experience nor skills. With this information relevant to a forthcoming merger and missing information Sarah failed to send him, they're forced to act recklessly. She's also prone to not listening, understandable as she's scared.

Riz Ahmed plays Ash

I began to wonder about Dawson's role in this. I assumed he's a mercenary working for the company, but we also haven't see him interact with anyone in the company.

Sarah is in danger and Ash is in too deep. In any other situation, we know he'd cut and run, but he likes and wants to help her. He has to break all of his self imposed rules.

I hoped the movie could maintain the level of excitement it creates in the beginning. If so, it could be a really fun thriller, and thankfully it does. I really enjoyed this movie, and I'm surprised I didn't hear more about it. While the action is solid, it's the spy craft that adds a great bit of depth that distinguishes this from similar movies.