Riz Ahmed and Sam Worthington butt heads in this twisty new thriller that takes us into the shadowy world of corporate malfeasance.
How to watch Relay in New Zealand
Relay is screening in New Zealand cinemas from August 21, 2025.
What is Relay about?
Directed by David Mackenzie (Young Adam, Hell or High Water), Relay introduces us to recovering alcoholic Ash (Riz Ahmed), who has an unusual job: he works as an intermediary between whistleblowers and corporations, working to protect the former from the latter. His trick is he uses the New York Relay Service, a free phone text/speech interface for the hearing and speech impaired, to ensure secure and untraceable communications.
That may not be enough when his new client, scientist Sarah Grant, hires him to help return an incriminating dossier, which puts him in the crosshairs of a team of ruthless corporate mercenaries. A taut cat-and-mouse game ensues, complicated by the fact that Ash has a few secrets of his own…
The cast of Relay
Riz Ahmed is Ash; Lily James is scientist and reluctant whistleblower Sarah Grant; Sam Worthington is Dawson, leader of the corporate hit squad; Willa Fitzgerald is Rosetti, his second in command; Matthew Maher is Hoffman; Victor Garber is McVie; Eisa Davis is Wash; and Jared Abrahamson is Ryan.
Relay trailer
Why we’re excited about Relay
Well, it’s certainly timely, isn’t it? And the script by Justin Piasecki, originally titled The Broker, attracted a fair amount of attention when it appeared on the Black List, the industry-curated list of the best unproduced screenplays doing the rounds, back in 2019.
Reviews have been pretty effusive, and the film has drawn favourable comparisons to classic ’70s paranoid fare like The Parallax View and The Conversation. This vibes like a smart, suspenseful, adult-oriented drama, and we are always up for more of those.
