RIOTUS

Ash (Riz Ahmed) lives an isolated, anonymous life in New York as a “fixer”—someone who facilitates payoffs and handovers between potential whistleblowers and the corporations that threaten them. He knows how to do his job and do it well, with careful planning and complex execution. But when a new client approaches him, his meticulous set of rules begins to unravel as their connection grows.

Sarah Grant (Lily James) was part of a biotech research group developing a new strain of insect-resistant wheat. Until she came across a food safety report that detailed disturbing side effects—ones that could harm consumers worldwide. So she made a copy, while raising concerns internally. Soon after, she found herself reassigned and pushed out of the company. Initially intending to go public with the report, Sarah began to fear for her safety when the corporation hired a shady group of henchmen to harass and intimidate her. All she wants now is to return the evidence in exchange for her life. That’s where Ash comes in.

Inspired by its genre predecessors from the ’70s, Relay is a tense thriller about those who operate outside of society’s everyday confines and observation. Whether it’s the unscrupulous big pharma corporations that value profits over people, or those who live in the shadows and seek to circumvent unfair practices. Fueled by an unsettling soundtrack, the cat and mouse chase is frenetic and paranoid, as Ash manages to stay several steps ahead by using the Tri-State Relay Service—a text-to-phone calling operation for Deaf and HoH callers—in order to protect his identity. This framing device adds a fresh and nuanced storytelling twist, separating Ash, Sarah, and the henchmen to increase the tension.

Ahmed is compelling as Ash, holding your attention every time he’s on screen with a layered intensity that slowly reveals its depths. Ash doesn’t even really have any dialogue until about thirty minutes in, but he doesn’t have to: his body language, quiet observation, and his actions tell us exactly who he is and what he’s capable of. And yet Ahmed makes you viscerally feel Ash’s loneliness and conflicted emotions over what he does, bringing you onto his side, even when he crosses legal lines into more morally gray and violent areas.

James embodies Sarah as a smart and sympathetic character who reaches out to Ash in ways he doesn’t expect to need. The pair’s chemistry is palpable even when only connected through tenuous digital layers. The hired henchmen, Dawson (Sam Worthington), Rosetti (Willa Fitzgerald), Ryan (Jared Abrahamson), and Lee (Pun Bandhu), don’t get much character development but they provide a decent amount of threat and menace, working in tandem with methods that grow increasingly dangerous. 

The action scenes are high-energy and pulse-pounding as the stakes evolve, even if the film’s climax twists the knife in a way that doesn’t feel quite right. But the emotional toll is heavily felt; the taut tension of the third act is earned with every vulnerable moment of yearning for something deeper.

In a time when the consequences for whistleblowers seem more brutal than ever, Relay is a timely and intelligent film that plays with the ways we view those who speak out and explores just how much they’re willing to risk.