It’s no secret that the director of Hell or High Water, David Mackenzie, knows how to escalate tension in a film. Paired with a тιԍнтly written script from Justin Piasecki and must-see performances from Riz Ahmed and Lily James, Mackenzie’s Relay becomes a dynamic, layered film that is hypnotic to watch.
Even as the film reaches its apex and threatens to bring down its immaculate pacing, Relay stays on top with a well-placed twist or two. The film might just be one of the biggest surprises of 2025, expertly weaving an intense story that ensures your eyes never stray from the screen.
The story itself is simple on the surface. Sarah Grant (James), a researcher with Optimal Pharmaceuticals, was nearly a whistleblower. Ousted from her job after sounding the alarm about disturbing research that would gravely affect thousands of people, and having stolen documents she wants to give back, Sarah gets in touch with a relay service broker — Ahmed, whose character’s real name, Ash (short for Ashraf), isn’t revealed until the film’s final act — who becomes the middle man between her and the team hired by Optimal Pharmaceuticals, led by Sam Worthington’s Dawson, to retrieve the documents (and kill her).
Relay Is An Intense Watch From The Start
The film isn’t a slow-burn thriller; from the very first scene, we’re on the edge of our seats, holding our breath to see what happens. Early on, Ash follows Hoffman (Matthew Maher), who’s just made an exchange with a pissed off CEO (Victor Garber), but we’re not sure at first whether he’s tailing him to kill him or protect him. Turns out he’s simply responsible for ensuring his clients — the whistleblower and corporate heads — follow through on the deal.
It’s well-played from the start, and Relay toys with our emotions throughout as it doles out information in increments, never revealing more than it needs to at any given moment. The tension is baked into the film in ways that other thrillers could only dream of, and it never lets up, even when I thought it would at one point or another. The film knows how to maintain our interest, but it also doesn’t hold our hand when it comes to explaining the way things work. It’s layered into the plot so no form of exposition is handed out at once.
[Ahmed & James] give stunning turns… layering their performances with a variety of emotions and reactions.
When important information is revealed, the thriller relies on the nuanced facial expressions of its actors to relay certain feelings. For so much of the film, Ahmed and James don’t share the screen — they communicate primarily through the relay phone service — and yet it always feels like they’re connecting as though they’re talking to each other in the same room. Their chemistry is palpable, and Relay mines that for all its worth, turning their relationship into the anchor that makes us care about what happens to them next.
Ahmed and James are excellent. They’ve always been great, but their talents are elevated here. In Relay, they give stunning turns as Ash and Sarah, respectively, layering their performances with a variety of emotions and reactions. They successfully convey fear, loneliness, and nail-biting urgency. They both imbue their characters with a gravitas that grounds the story, all while the film’s thrills continue building to a boiling point.
Relay Is The Kind Of Thriller That Doesn’t Spoon-Feed Us Information
At the same time, the film doesn’t always go in a predictable direction. It keeps us on our toes in that way. It keeps a level of anxiety-inducing stress that permeates the film without swallowing it whole. Mackenzie and Piasecki understand that the thrills and action would mean nothing if the characters weren’t people we cared about. It would just be empty excitement.
There’s a point in the story when the game of cat and mouse between Ash and Dawson’s team begins to wane, but the film never fully dips, which can happen with most thrillers that can’t keep the tension up. This is helped by a few great plot developments and тιԍнт editing from Matt Mayer, which cements the film as an intricate action thriller with a solid foundation and actors who fully engage with the material.
I haven’t been this excited about a thriller in a while, and Relay delivers in all the ways a film like this should. It’s got everything — tense chase sequences, anxious and wary phone calls, and heart-to-hearts between Sarah and Ash that underscore their characters’ need for true connection. There have been so few exceptional thrillers in recent years, but Relay is certainly one of them.
