David Mackenzie’s Relay adds a new face to the understated neo-spy scene
As a defender of even the bad Ocean’s movie, there’s little I love more than a stylish little spy thriller or heist flick—especially when we’ve left the action heroes and shootouts for another day. The time for soft spoken frustration, clever little turns, and more social hacking than digital security… gimmie that Soderbergh slushie any day of the week. After that filmmaker’s March outing Black Bag snuck quietly onto my “Best of 2025 So Far” list, I didn’t expect to be scratching the same itch so soon with another soft-spoken/high-tension taut techno-drama. But here we are.
Writer-director David Mackenzie, best known for recent neo-noir masterpiece Hell or High Water, dips back into high-stakes backstabbing and frustrating puzzle mechanics with Relay—which hits theaters this weekend.
Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a man fading into the background, going about his work in New York, avoiding identification, living the life of a ghost. His latest client is food industry employee Sarah (Lily James), who uncovered potentially ruinous information that she impulsively duplicated, and is now being hunted and harassed by a furious corporate employer. Ash’s business is a convoluted, devious, and positively singular approach to a modern problem of whistleblowers who don’t want to blow any whistles… they just want to be left alone. Utilizing a series of legal loopholes and analog technology, Ash and Sarah pursue an amicable separation from an evil pharmaceutical conglomerate, whose underhanded dealings will result in the deaths of thousands.
The thoroughly modern take separates Relay from generations of cinema that came before; this is not a film where the heroes hope to rob a casino or bring down the bad actors of the world, they simply want a way out… and a promise that no one will come looking for them later. Ash’s role as the relay coordinator here isn’t just to protect his client, Sarah, but he is equally in the employ of the shadowy antagonist organization. In 2025, a race against the clock and impossible odds, having a goal of simply… getting out alive and being left alone? It feels bleak, and it is. But if I gesture toward everything, it certainly bleeds honesty all over its grounding.
The other side of the cat-and-mouse is a team of blackhats—a motley crew featuring Sam Worthington and Willa Fitzgerald, who get in as many clever flushes as they take black eyes. A film that can swap seamlessly between murder-for-hire plots and mail fraud depends on a cast of delightfully frustrated supporting players, and the baddies walking face-first into Ash’s locked doors makes the movie soar.
Unfortunately, the hybrid-thriller with plenty of comedy to spare comes to a screeching halt late in the game, as a series of choices derail an otherwise seering satire with a solid frontman—and all the makings of the first entry in a franchise. Some critics have called the turns at the end utterly disqualifying in how brazenly misguided they are. I’ll offer a stronger support for the flick, which I think would’ve been served better without any last-minute shenanigans, but overall builds a space so singular and personal that I’m sure I’ll be rewatching this yearly. That is… a ringing endorsement for your truly, but I understand that my mileage VARIES from most, and Relay makes enough memorable, strong choices, I can’t hold 15 minutes of lesser movie to an impossible standard.
Relay is playing in theaters now.
