Stream it. A nice adult thriller, but loses it’s footing.

---

Relay is the kind of movie that would have been a Gene Hackman or Dustin Hoffman vehicle in 1975. The air tight writing engulfs dark, mysterious characters that only the writer knows like the back of his hand. Pretty surprising considering screenwriter Justin Piasecki’s last thing he was known for was being on Variety’s 2023 list of 10 Screenwriters to Watch without having anything to watch for. However, the film, even with its lack of exposition and unrelatable characters, has one helluva grip on you until it loses it. This shouldn’t come as a surprise when you have David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water) directing. I like his movies but there’s something about them that just doesn’t hit right. 

^{Ash (Riz Ahmed) relaxes surrounded by his record collection.}

Sarah (Lily James) is a whistleblower against Cybo Sementis Research Institutes, a corporation who has genetically modified wheat for human consumption. The food is edible, but, according to the covered up data, the after effects cause cancer and other illnesses. When bringing up these concerns, Sarah is fired and harassed into silence. CSRI owes it to their shareholders to turn a profit, but Sarah has the damning evidence ready to go public. Because of this, CSRI has its own surveillance crew watching her every step, recording her every move, waiting for the perfect time to strike. 

After all is said and done, Sarah just wants her life back, and offers to give the files back to the company, but they want none of that, because she knows. The bear has been poked and now the bear wants the honey. So, she takes this to a lawyer who says he can’t help her, but there is someone he knows who deals with these types of things. 

Ash (Riz Ahmed) uses a Telecommunications relay service to help those who can’t be helped. The caller calls the number, is patched to Ash, and he anonymously communicates via the relay service. Since no records are kept, this is the perfect place to “relay” such activity. Though Ash does have his own set of problems, a man’s gotta earn a living. After learning the nuts and bolts of Sarah’s story, he communicates with the surveillance team and threatens them with going to the authorities and media with the files if they don’t knock it off. If Ash does, this will screw up the multi-million dollar merger CSRI has, destroy lives and cost millions. To prove he isn’t messing around, Ash reads some of the file to the surveillance team, who appropriately react in anger. So the plan is: Sarah will give back the original files, but hold on to a copy as insurance and Ash will hold onto a copy and CSRI will become a silent client of his for a $500,000 fee. 

The rest of the movie is a lead up to mishaps, who-can-you-trust and AA meetings that fit shockingly well for a movie that doesn’t need it, but it falls apart at the start of the third arc when a twist is added that makes no sense and is very much unnecessary. 

_{Sarah (Lily James) just wants her life back.}

Do we, as an audience, really care that much about Ash’s background? Not really. Yeah, it’s nice padding, especially when you have a certain timeframe to hit, but the movie doesn’t demand a mysterious character background. Even if there were a Relay 2: Electric Boogaloo, learning more about Ash isn’t something I think would be necessary. Sarah plays her cards right and that’s what leads to her demise as a character.

Mackenzie and Piasecki weave Relay into a great adult film. The writing and acting, for what it is, is pretty solid and I was sold on a storyline I didn’t know existed. At no point did I feel like it took a dive for younger audiences or felt the need to add something that didn’t fit. However, as has been stated many times in films and books: The ending is key. If you get that wrong, the rest doesn’t matter. 

---

Relay is now playing in theaters.

Director: David Mackenzie

Writer: Justin Piasecki

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington

Genre: Dark thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 112 mins.