Nail-biting ‘Relay’ drops the baton in its final leg
Whistleblowing doesn’t carry the same prestige as it once did. Just ask Alexander Vindman or Reality Winner. The days of Daniel Ellsberg and Deep Throat are pretty much gone, done in by a societal switch in which a large segment of the population no longer views them as heroes, but as disloyal finks.
It’s from that perspective that “Hell or High Water” director David Mackenzie approaches “Relay,” his adaptation of Justin Piasecki’s twisty-turny take on whistleblowers who’ve pilfered incriminating documents from their corporate employers and then had second thoughts. They want to return the folders in exchange for getting their lives back, free from the constant fears – real and imaginary – of being ambushed by professional goon squads like the one keeping tight tabs on Lily James’ Sarah Grant.
To that end, Sarah hires a person with a certain set of skills to anonymously broker a deal in which her former bosses get their damning study back in exchange for a promise to call off the dogs. In her case, that fellow is Riz Ahmed’s nameless, and for most of the movie, voiceless fixer. He doesn’t work cheap, collecting hefty fees from both his client and enraged CEOs, like the one we meet in the opening scene, played by Victor Garber.
His McVie rendezvous with a very nerdy, very nervous former exec (Matthew Maher) in a nondescript Manhattan diner. McVie hands over a large wad of cash and the ex-exec hands over an envelope brimming with dirty secrets that could easily destroy McVie’s pharmaceutical conglomerate. All the while, Ahmed’s – let’s call him Ash – sits across the room discreetly keeping watch, making sure everything remains aboveboard. The transaction complete, the payee slips into the night with Ash close behind, tailing him to the subway.
It proves a gripping five-minute sequence in which we’re initially unsure which side Ash is on, the ex-exec’s or McVie’s. Maybe neither. Cut across town to a well-appointed apartment where we meet Sarah, anxious over the presence of a large, windowless van parked outside for days. The team inside, led by the humorless, driven Dawson (Sam Worthington), is not only monitoring Sarah 24-7, but tapping her phone and texts. Desperate, she dials up a guy who knows a guy who knows Ash.
They connect, but not directly. Instead, Ash takes advantage of the Tri-State Relay Service, a communications intermediary that mostly serves the deaf and hard of hearing. How it works: Ash types a TTY message that the Tri-State operator reads aloud to Sarah, and her response is typed back to Ash, thus eluding potential wire taps. And the inventive way Mackenzie, abetted by editor Matt Mayer, presents a dozen of these high-tech conversations is impressive, rhythmically flashing back and forth between Ash, Sarah and the operator.
It also forces Ahmed to dig deep into his bag of acting tricks because we won’t hear his voice until more than halfway in. It’s a real tour de force, too, using his eyes, gait and posture to reveal a man bearing the heavy weight of woe. But Mackenzie is stingy with the details, unveiling only tiny pieces at a time, like the fact that Ash is a recovering alcoholic. Unusual since Ash is a Muslim. But he has reason to drink, which we learn late in the picture, as he and Sarah flirt with making their business relationship more personal.
What ensues is somewhat predictable but no less intriguing since, I’m guessing, most folks are unfamiliar with pros like Ash and his ingenious use of TTY. It’s also great fun observing Ash toy with Dawson and his team, which includes Ryan (Jared Abrahmson), Rosetti (Willa Fitzgerald) and electronics expert Lee (Pun Bandhu). Ash is always one or two steps ahead of them, creating multiple red herrings in the form of postboxes set up across the country, much to their growing frustration. And I swear I haven’t spotted this many burner phones since “The Wire.”
Eventually, we get to the time when Sarah will hand over the documents implicating her former employer, an agrochemical company not unlike Monsanto, involved in a cover-up concerning the unhealthy effects of the latest GMO. But just when the film has your rapt attention, and earns favorable comparisons to Coppola’s masterpiece, “The Conversation,” Mackenzie and Piasecki throw it all away with a head-slapping third-act twist that would be more at home in a cheesy action thriller.
It’s infuriating and feels like a betrayal on the part of Mackenzie and Piasecki. They inexcusably let us down at the decisive moment. And it only gets worse from there, as a gripping psychological study suddenly flips the switch and descends into a run-of-the-mill shoot-’em up in which dozens of rounds of ammo are expelled with no one coming close to being struck. Just embarrassing.
More casual moviegoers might be accepting, but I suspect cinephiles will be hurling popcorn at the screen. It’s one of the more blatant bait-and-switches I’ve encountered in my nearly 40 years as a film critic. I’m still aggrieved. Yet, I can’t not recommend “Relay.” The first 90 minutes are just too good, and feature some superb performances, including Eisa Davis (niece of Angela Davis) as Ash’s AA sponsor, Wash. It all works in unison with the gritty cinematography by Giles Nuttgens that deftly contrasts the opulence of Manhattan with the blighted sections of Newark, where Ash runs his clandestine business out of the back of a large storage unit.
Still, there’s no avoiding that massive third-act letdown; time that would be better spent exploring how detrimental it could prove if whistleblowers continue to be treated like pariahs rather than protectors. Are they all destined to become as cynical as Ash, converting something he once believed in into a means to make money and wield power? Buried somewhere in there is the message the movie sought to convey. Oddly fitting that it gets squelched by filmmakers who, like Sarah, are too chicken to stick their necks out.
Movie review
Relay
Rated: R for language
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Jared Abrahmson, Willa Fitzgerald, Victor Garber and Elsa Davis
Director: David Mackenzie
Writer: Justin Piasecki
Runtime: 112 minutes
Where: In theaters Aug. 22
Grade: B-
