‘Relay’ evaluate: Riz Ahmed helps folks disappear in sensible, paranoid thriller

If historical past has taught us something, it’s that nobody is actually secure. That gathering dread fueled some nice ’70s paranoid thrillers, comparable to “The Parallax View” and “The Dialog,” however it’s been tough to copy that eeriness in in the present day’s extraordinarily on-line world, when our gadgets clarify and obfuscate with abandon, conspiracies are lifeblood and we really feel persecuted someday, invincibly nameless the following.

The nifty premise of “Relay,” a brand new white-knuckle trip from “Hell or Excessive Water” director David Mackenzie, is {that a} sure kind of tech-savvy hero can, if not fully ease your nervousness, not less than navigate a secret truce with these out to get you. And Riz Ahmed’s solitary off-the-grid fixer, Ash, who hides in plain sight in bustling New York, can do it with out ever assembly or speaking to you: His most popular mode of traceless communication is the text-telephone service that hard-of-hearing folks use together with message-relaying operators. Like a ready-made covert operation, it retains identities, numbers and name logs secret.

For the straightforward undeniable fact that “Relay” isn’t about an murderer (the films’ most over-romanticized unbiased contractor), screenwriter Justin Piasecki’s situation deserves kudos. Relatively, Ash’s dealer helps potential whistleblowers escape the clutches of dangerously far-reaching entities — until, after all, they need to accept money. It’s a fascinatingly cynical replace: Ought to we make an uneasy peace with our tormentors? (Good day, in the present day’s headlines.)

Earlier than these questions get their due, nonetheless, “Relay” units itself up with clockwork precision as an easy big-city nail-biter about staying one step forward. In search of safety from harassment and a return to regular life, rattled biotech scientist Sarah (Lily James) goes on the run with incriminating paperwork about her former employer. When she’s rebuffed by a high-powered legislation agency, she’s supplied a mysterious quantity to name. Ash, armed together with his elaborate vetting strategies, places Sarah by way of the paces with guidelines and directions concerning burner telephones, mailed packages and an in depth itinerary of seemingly random air journey. It doesn’t simply take a look at her dedication, although — it’s additionally a ploy to scope out the company goons on her path: a dogged surveillance crew led by Sam Worthington (who ought to perhaps solely play dangerous guys) and Willa Fitzgerald.

Because the story careens by way of airports and put up places of work and New York’s hidey-holes, the cat-and-mouse chase is dizzyingly satisfying, worthy of a Thomas Perry novel. We look forward to the missteps that threaten every thing, after all, and so they start with studying that Ash is a failed whistleblower himself, one who’s starting to query his chosen campaign. One other vulnerability, recognizable within the occasional cracks in Ahmed’s commanding stoicism, is the loneliness of the gig. So when a restive Sarah, on one in all their protected calls, gently prods for a smidgen of character from her mysterious unseen helper, one is inclined to shout, “No emotions! Too dangerous!”

However that, after all, is the slippery pleasure of “Relay,” which pits people in opposition to venal institutional may. Flaws are the beating hearts of those motion pictures, triggering the peril that makes the blood pump quicker. A few of that effectiveness is undercut by some off-putting music decisions, however McKenzie’s command of the fabric is rock strong, Giles Nuttgens’ cinematography achieves a modern, moody metallic chill and Matt Mayer’s modifying is all the time fleet. In a yr that’s already given us one superlative case of grownup peekaboo — Steven Soderbergh’s “Black Bag” — “Relay” proves there’s nonetheless extra room for sensible, punchy cloak-and-dagger choices.