Sequel Review – Riz Ahmed turns would-be whistleblowers in a smart and twisty surveillance thriller | film

A A very clever script from Justin Piasecki is the basis of this twisty surveillance thriller directed by David Mackenzie, who has a long-standing interest in analogue things like trains and the US Postal Service – and comes complete with a wonderfully Hitchcockian score to a classical concert. For those who remember Riz Ahmed’s role in the award-winning 2019 film Sound of Metal, about a heavy metal drummer who loses his hearing, there’s an added chill on top of that.

Here Ahmed plays a lonely Muslim man who grew up in the United States after the events of September 11. A lifelong suspicion led him to drink and he is now in recovery. He runs a highly profitable illegal specialist service for corporate employees in crooked organizations who wanted to be whistleblowers but have lost their nerve and now just want to hand over evidence without getting into more trouble. For a large fee, he will broker the return of incriminating material to you while keeping a copy of it for insurance purposes. To communicate with everyone, he uses a “relay” telephone service that connects the deaf and speech-impaired using telephone operators who read aloud typewritten prompts and keep no records of what is said: an ideal secure system for dropping messages.

Lily James plays Sarah, a woman who reaches out to him saying she once wanted to expose her employer with a document she stole; Now she’s scared and just wants to get out. Tinker agrees to help, but breaks his own rules by getting emotionally close to her. Sam Worthington plays the evil surveillance agent who wants to neutralize Sarah; It’s nice to see Worthington getting a break from boring avatar duty. There are some wonderfully orchestrated scenes in the big city, and Mackenzie ramps up the tension with his style.