RELAY

Name: RELAY
Item: RELAY
Author: Review

"Justice Prevails and Evil Exposed"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

RELAY is a thriller about a young man named Ash who helps whistleblowers stay safe while dealing with aggressive, corrupt corporations. A lawyer recommends Ash to Sarah, a young female biotech who’s being intimidated by her former company after she found out they were hiding a negative test about an agriculture product they plan to release. Sarah is tired of being harassed. She wants to return the documents she’s been keeping but needs assurances the company will stop harassing her. A cat and mouse game ensues as Ash tries to protect Sarah from the company henchmen. They keep close tabs on Sarah while Ash negotiates with the company to return Sarah’s copy of the documents safely.

RELAY has a complex plot. So, it’s sometimes hard to follow. However, it’s a pretty suspenseful, involving, well-acted thriller with some nice twists. The movie opposes corruption in large corporations. It also supports protection and just treatment for whistleblowers. Eventually, laws are upheld, and evil is finally exposed. Sadly, though, RELAY is rated R for some strong foul language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Content:

(B, PP, FR, LL, VV, A, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Moral worldview promoting justice and punishment of evildoers, police detective is a positive figure, clean-shaven hero poses as a bearded Muslim to follow someone incognito;

Foul Language:

20 obscenities (including 15 “f” words) and one OG profanity;

Violence:

Brief violence includes car shown on fire after being torched, man stabbed in leg to create a diversion as henchmen close in on the woman being protected by the hero, a gunfight and a chase occurs;

Sex:

No sex;

Nudity:

No nudity;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use, but hero attends AA meetings where he meets a female police detective who helps him twice during movie;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Deceit and betrayal occur.

More Detail:

RELAY is a thriller about a young man helping a woman being intimidated by her former company after she found out they were hiding a negative test about an agriculture product. Despite a complex plot, RELAY is a pretty suspenseful, involving, well-acted thriller with some nice twists and a positive theme favoring justice, but it’s rated R for strong foul language, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Oscar winner Riz Ahmed (for SOUND OR META) stars as Ash, a nominal Muslim and former failed whistleblower who now helps other whistleblowers stay safe while righting wrongs. The movie opens with him helping a middle-aged whistleblower get a payoff from a corrupt drug company so he can escape to anonymity and freedom.

Cut to a young woman named Sarah, played by Lily James, who’s seeing a lawyer because her former agricultural company is harassing her. While working there, she uncovered a negative test about an agricultural product the company was trying to hide. She brought the test to the company’s attention, but the company eventually let her go. However, Sarah retained a copy of the test. Sarah’s tired of being harassed, though, and wants to return the document for no more harassment.

However, the attorney says his company doesn’t do that kind of negotiation, but Sarah cajoles him into referring her to somebody. Sarah is given the number to Ash, but the number goes through a relay service for deaf people Ash uses to retain his anonymity. Sarah tells the relay service what she wants, and Ash types a message back to her that the service reads to her over the phone.

Ash charges her $50,000 for his services. He tells her to follow his instructions to the letter or he will walk away.

Meanwhile, the company has sent a team of henchmen to monitor Sarah’s every move. They have even torched her car to show her that the company means business. They’re also following her in a van.

A cat and mouse game ensues as Ash anonymously negotiates with the company for the return of the documents and tries to protect her from the company’s henchmen.

RELAY has a complex plot. So, it’s sometimes hard to follow. However, it’s a pretty suspenseful, involving, well-acted thriller with some nice twists. The movie opposes corruption in large corporations. It also supports protection for whistleblowers and principles of justice. The hero poses as in Muslim garb and a beard in one scene where he’s following the henchmen and a security guard in another scene. However, he doesn’t overtly spout any Islamic religious ideas. Sadly, RELAY is rated R for strong foul language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.