It all gets exciting until the very end.
“Relay” is the latest movie from director David Mackenzie, whose “Hell or High Water” was on my 10 Best list in 2016. This movie is also a thriller, but not in the bank robbing, western, or Jeff Bridges genre. It’s more in the money and computer games. The conspiracy and heist genre of you will.
I saw this movie last week at an AMC Screen Unseen showing, and I was intrigued by the premise. We start off with Victor Garber making a business proposal of some sort, and then we get to Riz Ahmed winning whatever dangerous game he’s playing. So where are we going? We want to see more. Now that’s the genre I want in on. I was also disappointed by the ending, and yet, I’m still recommending it because of where it wants to go and how it’s more entertaining than convoluted. I would say I liked 75% of “Relay,” while 25% is confusing. These numbers add up.
The movie stars Ahmed as Ash, a recovering alcoholic and secretive fixer, whose work regards corrupt corporations. He uses a hearing device as a makeshift messaging system. After all, why would he use an iPhone for his job? To quote “Michael Clayton,” “The math on this is simple-the smaller the mess, the easier it is for me to clean up.”
His latest client is Sarah (Lily James), a former scientist for a pharmaceutical company that has developed a drug with bad side effects. She tried to do the right thing by stealing the documents, but death threats have proven to be difficult. She needs the relay service to help her return the documents.
The man stalking her is Dawson (Sam Worthington), who leads a team (Willa Fitzgerald, Jared Abrahamson and Pun Bandhu) to track her down, and they find themselves dealing with the relay service. They threaten to make the documents go public, unless they agree to leave her alone. Do they honesty think it would be easy?
You know these kinds of services. There are principles that must be followed like buying burner phones, making cash transactions, and booking plane trips or else you get the “You’re on your own” line. And the relay hero must be an anonymous figure. But this time for Ash, he takes a liking to Sarah and is willing to throw her a bone.
I’m still disappointed in the ending. I acknowledge that movies need to break free from tradition, and I’ve praised them for doing so before. But here, it pulls the rug from under us and confuses us. I need a better understanding about the ending, and I don’t want to ask in my review. Maybe Wikipedia or The Movie Spoiler can answer that. Or maybe some can write in comments section, but leave a Spoiler Alert warning there. Whatever comes first.
Maybe that’s an example of the conspiracies within corporations. Or maybe it loves the genre and wants to serve as a throwback. But either way and up until we get to that point, “Relay” is actually an edge-of-your-seat thriller with Ahmed delivering the goods. And like “Michael Clayton,” this fixer is also a broken man in a sense. Here, he’s struggling to overcome his alcoholism and even attends AA, and he also develops a crush on his client. And he might even be part of something bigger. Thanks a lot, plot twist.
I’m told Justin Piasecki’s screenplay (originally titled “The Broker”) was on the 2019 Black List, which is an annual survey dedicated to “most liked” unproduced screenplays. They say they aren’t necessarily the best screenplays, but most liked. According to those lists, a lot of the best movies have appeared on it. This basically summons up “Relay.” It’s not the best screenplay of the year, thanks to its ending, but I liked it.
