Relay: Nail-Biting Mystery Thriller!

Robin, Noah and I really loved this movie.  I expect it to wind up be in my Top 5 for 2025.  As far as the three of us are concerned, it’s a MUST-SEE!  The film is a creative, high-suspense, mystery thriller.  The acting by the three leads is also excellent.

Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a “fixer” primarily for Whistleblowers and unethical corporations with something to hide.  Ash is a loner, partly because he needs to keep his identity a secret, but also he is a recently abstinent alcoholic, with a guilty conscience.  Ash has a sponsor, Wash (Eisa Davis), who is also a police detective.  Ash works anonymously, via a phone service for the deaf, “Relay.”  Everything said on the phone by Ash, his client, or the corporation is typed out and no records of any calls are maintained.  Relay gets a percentage of the Whistleblower deals, as do Ash and his client.

The movie opens in a restaurant with one of Ash’s clients, Hoffman, concluding a payout deal, arranged by Ash, with the CEO of Optimo, McVie.  Hoffman is a whistleblower who previously worked for Optimo.  This company was selling a drug that was killing people, but the toxic effects were being covered up.  Ash has a copy of the damaging documents, so if Optimo ever tries to harm Hoffman, the documents will be released to the media.  Hoffman had to sign an NDA in order get get the payout.

After this scene, Ash receives a call from Sarah Grant (Lily James).  She was working for Crypto Sementis Research, which had invented a genetically modified wheat that was insect-resistant.  This grain would be a boon for farmers in third world countries, and the company will be bought out by an S&P 500 company in a few weeks for 3.2 billion dollars!  Previously, Sarah saw an email indicating that the grain has serous side effects, which can even kill people.  She first went to the company to discuss this email, but the C Suite executives did nothing.  Sarah was soon transferred and eventually fired.  Sarah is in trouble now because, anticipating her termination, she stole damaging documents from the company.  The company has since been harassing her.  Sarah now wants to give the documents back and be left alone.  She gets referred by a lawyer to Ash for help to accomplish this.

Sarah is being trailed by a four-person counter-intelligence team led by Dawson (Sam Worthington) who wants to get the documents back.  Ash takes Sarah as a client, after Sarah pays $50,000 to Relay.  Sarah will get this money returned – as well as considerably more money – when the deal with Crypto Semantis is concluded.  The situation is very complicated, and, as you might expect, things don’t go as planned.

The steps Ash takes to enable the deal to occur (most of the film) are complex and suspenseful.  The last half-hour is terrific, and I was on the edge of my seat!  I won’t say any more about the plot, just to make sure I’m not a whistleblower who gets harassed by the Producer!