Title – Relay (2024)

Director – David Mackenzie (Starred Up)

Cast – Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington

Plot – Underground broker Ash (Ahmed) takes on a dangerous new job with client Sarah (James) who is in a heated battle with her old firm, a pharmaceutical giant that has employed the services of Dawson (Worthington) to monitor her movements.

“Now speak clearly”

Review by Eddie on 15/10/2025

Released without much fanfare and a collection of solid if far from glowing reviews, David Mackenzie’s thriller with a difference Relay is an entirely watchable feature experience but one that’s hard to get excited about despite a solid cast, concept and delivery.

A curious film for Mackenzie to take on, this is the same director who made gritty U.K films such as Young Adam, Perfect Sense and underrated prison drama Starred Up and then struck it big with modern day crime classic Hell or High Water, Relay is a much more stereotypical film than many of the directors past works, even if its familiar concept is built around some unique ideas and deliveries.

Focussing in on Riz Ahmed’s social outcast and underground broker Ash, who makes a living playing middle man in high pressure payoffs and under the table deals between companies and individuals, Relay is a thriller that for the most part bypasses guns and set pieces for far more intimate and dialogue driven pressure situations that come to boil when Ash gets involved with Lily James’s Sarah as she looks to find her way out of precarious situation with her big corporate ex-employer.

Anyone seeking high octane thrills from Relay will be disappointed by Mackenzie’s far more stoic and placid approach to proceedings of which he does an amiable job of milking tension out of, with it becoming surprising how much white-knuckle tension can be found in watching a grown man type into teletypwriter but despite some solid acting turns, especially by the always good Ahmed and an unusually engaged Sam Worthington as his pursuer Dawson, Relay can’t ever take the next leap into must-watch territory.

There’s nothing overtly bad about Relay, if anything it’s one of the most competently put together Hollywood thrillers of the year but there’s also nothing standing out here from a crowded marketplace that more than ever finds itself competing with itself with generic streaming originals coming in thick and fast in the thriller space.

At times Mackenzie threatens to bring the same amount of directional nuance and storytelling ability he brought to the table in the likes of Starred Up and Hell or High Water but Relay always feels like its either walking or slightly jogging along its way never running, making this in ways unique genre affair passable in all areas but far from an outright winner.

Final Say –

Well performed and put together, there are a lot worse options for a casual nights viewing than Relay but there’s also nothing here worth rushing out for, making David Mackenzie’s latest offering a middle of the pack runner, nothing more and nothing less.

3 newsstands out of 5