Relay

Relay (2024)

77% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 113 reviews)

Runtime: 112 minutes

Directed by: John Mackenzie

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Jared Abrahamson

From: Bleecker Street

Once again, I supported modestly-budgeted R-rated films meant for adults at the cinema; once again I was satisfied with the movie.

As always, I won’t exclusively watch horror from now until the start of November. Relay was not only a movie a mystery to me when it was made, its release was unknown until the Tuesday before release when looking at what my local AMC cinemas were showing. A trailer was never seen-all I knew beforehand was the genre & the stars—Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington.

Relay is a thriller inspired by those of the past but is set in modern times. Ahmed is a fixer (always remaining anonymous; the “relay” referenced in the title is one of many clever ways to stay unidentified) who helps shield whistleblowers from corporations and other entities who plan on retaliating against those folks. James has documents from a company that genetically modifies foods, and the company has goons led by Sam Worthington set on intimidating her.

Without revealing too much, Relay takes its time as both Sam and Riz spy on Lily; Ahmed not only has a number of disguises (some of which are tremendous) but he also uses modern tech alongside old-school tricks-for such tasks as shipping packages through the mail-to prevent the villains from acquiring said packages. What a performance from Ahmed; the movie slowly unfurls his character and his faults—he has a faux persona to attend AA meetings to combat his alcoholism.

Relay should be a rewarding experience for patient viewers; filming in New York City and the surrounding environs provided a good backdrop for the film, as did the interesting score & soundtrack. Judging by other Letterboxd reviews, even movie buffs like us were blindsided by Relay’s release. Why Bleecker Street didn’t better publicize a quality film: mystifying.

Only afterwards did I learn the director was David Mackenzie, of From Hell to High Water fame. It was nice to see him finally make another theatrical picture. My desire is for the proliferation of films like this-presumably good or better-to come to cineplexes rather than the nonsense that has been dominant for years now.