Relay

NOW IN THEATERS! Directed by David Mackenzie, Relay is a tense thriller built around secrecy, surveillance, and the hidden underground networks that protect and endanger whistleblowers alike. Ash (Riz Ahmed), a mysterious, reclusive fixer who coordinates discreet exchanges between whistleblowers and their employers, whose job is to protect them, simply wants to return what they’ve stolen to give them relief. One early scene unfolds in a very public Manhattan diner: Whistleblower Hoffman (Matthew Maher), scared out of his wits, meets with his former company’s CEO McVie (Victor Garber). Our protagonist, Ash, observes closely from a distance without being seen. As the two exchange an envelope of classified documents for a payoff, Hoffman goes on his way and vanishes into obscurity. Now, Ash sits silent at an AA meeting before the next job.

Here’s where the title, Relay, comes in. Ash operates using a unique method to stay entirely anonymous: he types all communications via a telecommunications relay service, originally meant for the hearing-impaired, to protect his voice, phone number, and presence. After closing his first assignment, he’s approached by Sarah Grant (Lily James), a biotech scientist who possesses damning documents about a genetically modified wheat whose risks have been suppressed by her former employer, Cybo Sementis. When Sarah was fired because she questioned the suppressed test results, she stole the results, intending to leak them to the press. Knowing this, Cybo decides to initiate a full-court press to get their property back.

Ash begins working through Sarah’s case by arranging an elaborate set of tasks for her to follow to figure out if she is right to feel paranoid. His strategy reveals a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game, as Sarah is being trailed by a hired enforcer team led by Dawson (Sam Worthington). The team is intent on flushing out Ash or at least discovering his identity. Ash works feverishly to help Sarah, but with every relay call, he can’t help having feelings for her.

“Ash remains hidden while being pursued by a crack surveillance team.”

In Relay, there’s a gimmick at play that feels like it becomes a nuisance at the end. I, like the writer, found it to be an interesting idea. What we have is a relay service that allows an intermediary to do all the communication, which keeps privacy intact. It’s a way to hide in plain sight. But by the end, when Ash and Sarah are getting intimate on the phone, the movie almost drops the entire gimmick. In other words, it didn’t have legs.

That said, the fun of Relay is seeing how Ash remains hidden while being pursued by a crack surveillance team. I enjoyed the covert game of cat and mouse, which plays out like a low-budget yet highly sophisticated version of Mission: Impossible. The constant question is, “How’s he gonna get out of this one?”

Then there’s Lily James, who is the quintessential strong, yet vulnerable, damsel-in-distress. Sorry if that sounds sexist, but for the male audience, it helps to have a protagonist worth risking your life over. Riz Ahmed is good as the tech genius with the fatal flaw as a recovering alcoholic. Good thing he’s not paid by the word, since he barely speaks throughout the first two acts.

The biggest downfall of Relay is the ending. I was with the film and having a good time up until the first twist of the evening. You could make the case that the twist was a bold choice, but I’d call it the wrong one. The film could have been about defeating the bad guys. Then there’s the second twist that just soured me on the film altogether. It’s here that I turned against the film, dismissing it as mere Hollywood drivel.