Movie Review: ‘Relay’

In David Mackenzie’s ‘Relay,’ Riz Ahmed and Lily James headline a tense but uneven little paranoid thriller based around a unique communication gimmick.

Riz Ahmed in Bleecker Street's 'Relay'. Credit: Bleecker Street.

Opening in theaters August 22 is ‘Relay,’ directed by David Mackenzie and starring Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Matthew Maher, Jared Abrahamson, and Victor Garber.

Relay

"No callers are identified. No conversations are recorded. No phone records are kept. Now speak clearly and when you are finished say: 'Go ahead'."

RDrama Thriller

Audience
Score

Release Date: Aug 22, 2025

Run Time: 1 hr 52 min

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington

Initial Thoughts

Lily James in Bleecker Street's 'Relay'. Credit: Bleecker Street.

Featuring a terrific central performance from Riz Ahmed, ‘Relay’ is styled very much in the mold of classic paranoid thrillers from the 1970s like ‘The Parallax View’ and ‘The Conversation.’ It’s not quite as intense and expansive as those, and its third act falls back into a series of rote reveals and action beats, but for its first two-thirds, the film builds an impressive level of tension and dread – not to mention that its primary plot device is an ingenious hook for the story.

Story and Direction

Riz Ahmed in Bleecker Street's 'Relay'. Credit: Bleecker Street.

Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a solitary fixer who helps whistleblowers – but not in the way you might expect. Instead of assisting them to expose the corporation they’ve been working for, Ash helps the would-be whistleblower (who may have second thoughts or is afraid) return whatever incriminating documents or information they have, in exchange for a substantial payout, a new life, and a promise to be left alone.

A former whistleblower himself, Ash employs a third-party relay service – a phone and text network ostensibly meant for people with hearing disabilities, and the most fascinating aspect of the movie – to ensure that his communications with his clients are anonymous, untraceable, and secure. Ash’s next case is a scientist named Sarah Grant (Lily James), who is being harassed by operatives of the biotech company for which she used to work. She has some devastating information on the company that she wants to give back, and Ash agrees to help her, with all their exchanges conducted through the relay service.

Ash also monitors his clients from afar – and sometimes from right next to them, since they don’t know who he is – and in the case of Sarah, he begins to develop an attraction that threatens the wall of protection that he’s carefully constructed around himself. Sarah begins to take interest in her silent benefactor as well, even though her former employer’s attack dogs – led by the ruthless Dawson (Sam Worthington) – are doing everything possible to destroy her or worse.

A scene from Bleecker Street's 'Relay'. Credit: Bleecker Street.

David Mackenzie, who directed the excellent ‘Hell or High Water’ in 2016, wrings tons of suspense out of ‘Relay’ for its first two-thirds, with the relay service creating a unique layer of separation between Ash and his clients that emphasizes both Ash’s paranoia and the danger of the work he does. Just as he channeled the classic Western in a modern setting for ‘Hell,’ Mackenzie invokes the thrillers of the ‘70s – right down to the gritty urban setting, in this case New York City – and lures you in as we watch Ash go through every meticulous detail of his business, wondering if and when he might finally slip up.

It’s only in the third act of Justin Piasecki’s script that ‘Relay’ begins to unravel, as a series of more conventional action beats, as well as a twist that you can sense coming about halfway through the movie, replace the movie’s slow-burn, simmering narrative with something resembling a more conventional action programmer. It’s not a fatal flaw but it takes the edge off ‘Relay’ just as the movie should be really catching fire.

Cast and Performances

Sam Worthington in Bleecker Street's 'Relay'. Credit: Bleecker Street.

Riz Ahmed is an expert at underplaying – almost deliberately eschewing dialogue in favor of expressing himself through his eyes, physicality, and remarkable stillness. Just as he did in the excellent ‘Sound of Metal,’ in which he played a hearing-challenged musician, he makes Ash almost consciously non-verbal – this is a man whose past trauma has taught him to say as little as possible and avoid even speaking at all. Despite the walls Ash puts up, however, Ahmed’s subtle compelling work transmits the isolated man’s basic decency and the gradual return of his sense of righteousness.

Lily James remains one of the more appealing young British actresses working today, and she too generates both charisma and desperation as Sarah, but the fuzzier aspects of her background and some of her choices make the character frustrating at certain points. Sam Worthington delivers a rather standard if snarky villain in Dawson, while unfortunately the great Willa Fitzgerald – so astonishing in ‘Strange Darling’ – gets little to do as Worthington’s right-hand person.

Final Thoughts

Riz Ahmed in Bleecker Street's 'Relay'. Credit: Bleecker Street.

The relatively low-key ‘Relay’ won’t get the big publicity push or elaborate marketing of even an average Hollywood tentpole, but it’s also the kind of movie that audiences claim they want more of – original, adult-oriented, intelligent, and character-driven. It might be a film that finds an audience later on streaming as a result, but it’s worth seeking out in theaters as a cinematic experience that doesn’t rely on IP to succeed. It’s not perfect and you may not walk out completely satisfied, but for the most part, ‘Relay’ gets its message across.

‘Relay’ receives a score of 70 out of 100.

What is the plot of ‘Relay’?

Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a world class 'ﬁxer' who specializes in brokering lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten to ruin them. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. But when a message arrives one day from a potential client (Lily James) needing his protection just to stay alive, the rules quickly start to change.