Don’t let the fact that “Relay” is jogging quietly into theaters in the dog days of summer fool you.

The latest effort from “Hell or High Water” director David Mackenzie is a smart and engaging thriller, one benefiting from a compelling yet understated performance by one of its stars, the highly talented Riz Ahmed.

An Academy Award nominee for his performance in 2019’s “Sound of Metal” as a rock drummer who loses his hearing, Ahmed here portrays Ash, a recovering alcoholic who works in the shadows as a middleman helping would-be whistleblowers reach financial settlements with nefarious corporate types.

Coincidentally, New Yorker Ash uses older technology designed to help the deaf communicate to interact anonymously with his clients via The Tri-State Relay Service. That entity is ideal for Ash, as it’s shielded from revealing the identity of those it serves by the Americans with Disabilities Act. (The Tri-State Relay Service is fictional, but the studio behind the film, Bleecker Street, has set up a website for it with a number you can text to receive a call similar to those heard in “Relay.”)

We meet Ash as he’s monitoring an arranged meeting at a diner between potential whistleblower Hoffman (Matthew Maher, “Captain Marvel”) and McVie (Victor Garber, “Alias”), an executive from a pharmaceutical company eager to retrieve documents in the former’s possession. After the pair exchanges a few unpleasantries, Hoffman explains that if anything happens to him, the press and authorities will be sent a copy of the documents that will be kept by the unidentified fixer as insurance. And, as instructed, Hoffman takes a photo of himself with McVie and leaves the restaurant.

Soon, Ash gets a call, via the service, from Sarah (Lily James), who says she’s a biotech scientist in possession of damaging information about her former company. She was going to blow the whistle about the documented effects of the insect-repellant strain of wheat the outfit has developed, but, after suffering from a great deal of harassment by the corporation, she simply wants to give the documents back and go about her life.

Ash says he can help her and begins to relay the first in a series of precise, relatively complicated instructions as to where she is to go, what she is to do with the documents and how she is to communicate with him.

All the while, Sarah is being watched by a team representing the company, led by the aggressive Dawson (Sam Worthington, “Avatar”). As Sarah follows her instructions, Ash works just out of sight to try to neutralize them.

It would be a disservice to say much more about the plot of “Relay,” which, eventually, is as twisty and turny as you may hope. However, it shouldn’t be much of a spoiler to reveal that Ash — who lives and works alone — develops a fondness for Sarah and a desire to protect her, even as he insists he will walk away if she doesn’t do exactly as he instructs.

Ahmed, whose credits also include “The Night Of” and “Fingernails,” is entrancing as Ash, exploring the character’s meticulous nature and mining his simmering sadness. The actor rarely goes big in “Relay,” so when he does, it’s impactful.

Meanwhile, James (“Cinderella,” “Baby Driver”) also is strong as Sarah, with whom you can empathize and who seemingly can’t help but be intrigued by this man with whom she’s been communicating as she lives a life of isolation, asking him at one point if he’s lonely.

“Relay” was penned by Justin Piasecki, whose screenplay for the upcoming “Stakehorse” appeared in 2023 on the Blacklist — a collection of well-regarded unproduced scripts — and he was named one of Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch 2023. Nothing in “Relay” suggests he isn’t a writer to keep tabs on, as the holes you start to find in the story are plugged by the end.

The movie is more fine work by Mackenzie, whose other films include 2011’s “Perfect Sense” and 2018’s “Outlaw King,” in which he reteamed with “Hell or High Water” star Chris Pine. He brings perfect pacing to “Relay,” the thriller neither dragging nor rushing.

If there’s a nitpick to be made with “Relay,” is that its chase-filled final minutes, while appropriately high-stakes, feel rather generic, at least when compared with what’s come before them. It’s an adequate ending for the contemporary thriller drawing inspiration from those of the 1970s, but you’d be forgiven for hoping for something a bit more interesting.

“Relay” is arriving a little short of a year after its debut at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. It’s taken its sweet time to get here, but you may want to race to see it.

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‘RELAY’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language)

Running time: 1:52

How to watch: In theaters Aug. 22

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