Relay: A Review

 

RELAY

I have used the relay service to communicate with the deaf when I worked, many painful years ago, at a probation/parole violators' center. It was not a fun experience and consider it among the three worst years of my life. I would not go as far as saying that Relay was worse than working at that center. I will say that Relay is built on a lot of implausible moments and some awful performances that make it a slog to sit through. 

Mysterious operative Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a go-between for corporate or government whistleblowers who wish to return incriminating documents to their former employers. Ash ensures that his clients are protected both physically and financially. He informs the most recent corporation that his client is returning the material; however, Ash will keep a copy at a secure location. This information will leak out only if his client meets with an unfortunate accident. All the companies have agreed to this, so Ash has a solid track record.

Apart from that, Ash leads a very solitary life. His life is all work with no current vices. Ash's former vice is one we learn about as Relay continues. His newest client is Sarah (Lily James). She has damning information about genetically modified wheat. Feeling the pressure from the corporation, Sarah has been put in contact with Ash. Ash is extremely careful in not leaving any fingerprints metaphorically or literally. He never meets with the clients. He never is photographed. His only communication is via a relay system which is used for the deaf. These calls have the added benefit of never being recorded for legal reasons.

Sarah is facing off against Dawson (Sam Worthington), the corporation's muscle. Dawson and his team now play a cat-and-mouse game against Sarah and Ash. Each is determined to outwit the other and avoid capture. Things take an unexpected turn when Ash ends up falling in love with Sarah and when Sarah neglects to turn over every document. She claims that the few pages that she did not submit were innocuous. Ash realizes that it actually means that they did not complete their side of the bargain. As such, Dawson is perfectly right to pursue them with vengeance. 

Ash, we learn, is an alcoholic. He was a formerly successful Wall Street wunderkind. However, the mix of corporate greed and the pressures a Muslim in post 9/11 America push him to the bottle. He at least has a sponsor, New York City Detective Wash (Eisa Davis). Things come to a head when Ash learns that Sarah will be murdered to keep her silent. Ash now must rescue her at a classical music concert. However, we get one "shocking" twist that puts Ash's life in danger. Will Ash survive this double cross?

Oh, for that "shocking" twist. That "shocking" twist that was both expected and wildly implausible. Perhaps I am being a bit unfair about Relay having a wildly implausible twist. I do not know if Justin Piasecki's screenplay had that twist be totally implausible. I just thought that for it to work, a lot of things had to happen exactly as Relay had them happen.

What guarantee was there that Ash would have that kind of connection with Sarah? What guarantee was there that Ash would care about her ultimate fate? What guarantee was there that he would not get caught? I am never big on films where situations occur exactly in such a way as to have things go the way they did. It just does not feel natural. It feels forced and calculated. 

Relay is curious in that for the longest time I thought Ash was literally mute. It takes a long, long time for Riz Ahmed to speak. Even after we see that he does have the ability to speak, he does not say much that is interesting. It almost made one initially wonder two things. First, it made one wonder if Ash genuinely needed the TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf) versus using it to cover his tracks. Second, it made me wonder if he was using Relay to keep his sign language skills fresh after making Sound of Metal. 

I get that Ash was meant to be a morose figure, alone and lonely, locked away from the world. I did not expect him though to be so boring. Ahmed can act. He just did not do so in Relay. He got some moments to have monologues, such as when he talks to his AA group about how he fell to drink. Even here though, I felt no emotion other than a desire to nod off.

The advertising touts him as "Academy Award winner Riz Ahmed". That is true. He won for co-directing that year's Best Live-Action Short Film. I take the opportunity to repeat that said short film, The Long Goodbye, is total garbage. It is a rap music video that is about how racist white people are. Riz Ahmed won an Oscar for rapping on camera.

The Long Goodbye awful as it is, at least has one thing going for it. It does not have Sam Worthington in it. Sam Worthington is cinematic plank wood. He cannot act. He simply cannot act. The determined efforts to make Sam Worthington into a star continue to collide with reality. Yes, he lucked out by being in the Avatar franchise. However, do people really go to an Avatar film to see the CGI version of Sam Worthington? 

To be fair to director David Mackenzie, no one has managed to get Sam Worthington to actually act. As such, he cannot be blamed for Worthington's inability to play a character. 

Lily James, I think, did do better as Sarah. She did initially convince the viewer that she was something of a damsel in distress. Her twist is not convincing. However, she gave it a good try.

Relay, if not for the "shocking twist", might have been passable fare. It is not great, but it was not terrible. At least until it decided to become more routine in its tale. As I watched, I thought it might have been better to have called it End of Message (how all the TDD calls ended). Relay is a good film to have playing in the background while you are doing something else. 

DECISION: C-