
It’s quite something to think that Riz Ahmed’s life is set to star in an Oscar winner before it becomes more like a traditional screen vehicle. Relay has in common with it the essential ingredients of an espionage thriller, drawing inspiration from movies like Robert Altman’s archetypal 70′s paranoia movies, Michael Clayton. But Relay turns a new light on the premise of its writer Justin Piasecki. Corporate America and whistle blowers may not be new to the audience however Piasecki links both the telephone relay system that gives the name to the film and intertwines it with the plot. The main characters of this story are corporate witches, they are ‘fixers’ of sorts in between the raging whistle blowers and the Corporate thick and secretive trying to get rid of them. It was really interesting to see Ahmed in the role his character indeed always had new costumes. He is a true professional who is confident enough to allow himself to get into the skin of the character even for the same role where he has so many different sides in the film.
It is great and refreshing to come across a character of South Asian and Muslim origin and not be relegated to the blunt stereotype of being an apolitical terrorist, instead, her character is wonderfully complex with several layers to it and is very well developed.
The game Relay can masterfully expand on the previously designed concepts and draw inspiration built by its predecessors. For example, Relay seamlessly designed such well-cut moments that are augmented by telegraph conversations, and the cut scenes they create add great intrigue and are entertaining. The cause in this case works very well too in terms of the characters’ dynamics. For instance, both Lily James and Sam Worthington do not have to do much as Worthington says very little in the calls and can purely play the ‘bad guy’ instead more in his unique role.
Again under Mackenzie’s directorship, one is not disappointed, for him, filmmaking has been great fun.
His movies have been influenced by harsh modern thrillers such as Hell or High Water, and he portrays the suspense of Relay rather well.
Mackenzie takes a relaxed view of these types of film directors who dwell on subtext to the extent of being absent from the film, but on the other hand, he knows quite well the kind of picture he has directed and he is able to do his work and completes it.
So in terms of schematic layout Relay is quite well done on some fronts on paper! It has a quite fascinating storyline and is fun to watch such movies despite the plethora of genres out there. The final stretch where the heartbreaking genre begins to bunch up is exciting even where it begins to lose some throttle – while the viewers at least were fascinated by something else. However, it does feel overly stylish and almost pretentious for something that is trying to not be.
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