Director: David Mackenzie
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 112 mins

Relay is the new film by David Mackenzie, best known for directing Hell or High Water, a Neo-Western crime drama that landed the film a Best Picture Oscar nomination – it’s a masterpiece. Mackenzie’s been rather quiet of late – he hasn’t directed a film since Outlaw King in 2018. But fear not because not only has Mackenzie made Relay, he’s made another film called Fuze which premiered at TIFF at September this year, so it’ll no doubt be getting a wide release soon.

Back to Relay though and Mackenzie’s latest is a thriller starring Riz Ahmed as Ash, a fixer who mediates between whistleblowers and the companies they expose via a relay service for the deaf to conceal his identity. Lily James plays Sarah Grant, who is seeking help after working at a company who are covering up the side effects of their genetically modified wheat. She’d originally planned to expose them with a damning report but now just wants to be free of the company’s intimidation. After speaking to a lawyer, Ash’s services come recommended to Ash. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game of espionage between Ash, Sarah and a professional counterintelligence team led by Dawson (Sam Worthington).

Relay is a brainy thriller and its first two acts are fantastic. Justin Piasecki’s script (which was on the Black List of unproduced screenplays in 2019) is taut and there’s some great set pieces, especially inside an airport and an opera. The communication between the parties via the relay service is a wholly original idea to breathe new life into this genre, and Mackenzie deftly ratchets up the tension. It’s crisply shot by Giles Nuttgens and there’s an interesting guitar-heavy score by Tony Doogan. While still entertaining, it’s a shame the third act heads more into action film territory with an overcooked twist that I predicted pretty early in.

Riz Ahmed is an excellent lead, an actor who’s proven time and time again that he can convey a huge amount of personality through his physical presence alone – just look at Sound of Metal, for instance. While Lily James is reliably good in everything she’s in, it’s nice to see Sam Worthington in a film that makes the most of his potential – for the occasional brilliant performance in films such as Everest or Hacksaw Ridge, you’ve got something naff like Avatar: The Way of Water.

Relay is an entertaining and lean thriller, and yet another memorable film from David Mackenzie. It’s just a shame the film has a change of direction in the third act that doesn’t quite match the top-tier work of its first two thirds. Still there’s plenty of promise here, combined with some excellent performances and Relay is definitely worth checking out.