A One Mann’s Movies review of “Relay” (2025, 4*, 15).
Remember all of those delightfully straightforward ‘conspiracy’ thrillers in the 80’s and 90’s like “No Way Out” (1987); “The Pelican Brief” (1993); “Enemy of the State” (1998)? “Relay”, the new film from David (“Hell or High Water“) McKenzie, reminded me a lot of that simpler time, where a moderately simple story, albeit with a twist or two, leaves you feeling wholly satisfied with your cinema-ticket purchase.
This seems to have sat on the distributors shelf for a while and has been slipped out without any fanfare (which is a shame). It’s not perfect – it makes a misstep in the final reel – but it is thoroughly entertaining.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Ash (Riz Ahmed), a recovering alcoholic, acts as a ‘broker’ between whistle-blowers and the companies that they used to work for. His latest client is Sarah (Lily James) who has found her pharmaceuticals company fiddling compliance regulations and now has a bunch of heavies spying on her and wanting a smuggled document back.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong language.”)
Talent:
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Jared Abrahamson, Pun Bandhu, Eisa Davis, Matthew Maher, Victor Garber.
Directed by: David Mackenzie.
Written by: Justin Piasecki.
Running Time: 1h 52m.
Summary:
Positives:
- A simple, straightforward story, very well told.
- Riz Ahmed again delivers a towering performance without needing to say much!
- Some really great needle drops.
Negatives:
- The third reel goes in a different direction that was surprising but raised unnecessary questions.
Full Review of “Relay”:
A no frills story that entertains.
The story isn’t a simple one – it’s a remarkably clever screenplay – but in the same manner as those classic thrillers I mentioned in my introduction, it moves along in a linear fashion unwinding its twisty-turny conspiracy story in an entertaining manner.
The novel aspect of the plot is the use of the “Tri-Counties Relay Service”: a service for deaf people where a remote operator accepts text input from a TDD (Telephony Devices for the Deaf) machine and they act as the speaking interface between the parties. The person using the TDD is of course Ash (Riz Ahmed) who is able to maintain perfect anonymity from both his clients and the target company. For physical drops, he utilises PO Boxes and mail forwarding methods to stay one step ahead of investigators.
A remote relationship.
Ash makes for an interesting character. His only face-to-face friend he can talk to is police officer Wash (Eisa Davis), a fellow recovering alcoholic from his AA meetings. But as he communicates with Sarah (Lily James) you can feel that this is going to be a much more personal case for Ash. He is able to spy on her in her flat, under the guise of checking on the baddies (led by Dawson (Sam Worthington)). At one point she asks him (via TDD) “Are you lonely” – a question he is unable to answer, but you know the answer is yes.
Great acting.
Riz Ahmed really is a British National Treasure in the acting community and doesn’t get as much recognition as he deserves. Here he delivers another fantastic performance, delivering the goods even in the scenes in which he really doesn’t have much to say. It’s also another good performance from Lily James, who largely keeps a lid on her overdone ‘Lily-Jamesism’ acting tells.
Some neat set pieces.
The film manages to deliver some really nice set pieces: a sequence at an airport, reminiscent of that scene in the recent “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1“; a scene at a newspaper kiosk on the streets of New York; a scene set at a theatre during a classical music performance. All really well done and suitably tense.
Doesn’t overstep its remit….
The script intelligently sticks to its knitting in telling its story without you going “No… don’t go there”. It came close once or twice. Naturally, Ash and Sarah do eventually meet up face-to-face and there was a moment in a taxi where there was a potential for them to kiss. “Noooooo” I was thinking to myself. But the crisis passed without incident and I breathed a sigh of relief.
…. until it does.
The third act moves from a Hitchcockian ‘creeping around in the shadows’ thriller to something broader and more action based. No spoilers, but the film then suddenly does a sharp right turn that came as a surprise…. but one which led to your asking far too many tricky questions about what happened in the first two reels. These were questions than I don’t think have satisfactory answers. Which was a bit disappointing.
Fun soundtrack
For a film that has few recognisable tunes, I found I was thoroughly enjoying all of the different needle drops scattered throughout the film. The film’s composer was Tony Doogan.
Summary Thoughts:
A really solid and entertaining thriller that – like “Black Bag” from earlier in the year – I went into with little in the way of expectations but which came as a really pleasant surprise. Recommended.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywC__z5VgZM.
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