The Order
This true-life, 1980s-set crime drama shines a light on the unsavoury underbelly of White Supremacist terrorist groups in the US, which makes it not only a gripping thriller, but also sadly topical.
Premise: In 1983, veteran FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law) moves to an Idaho field office looking for a quieter life, but is drawn into an investigation of a missing informant by local policy Deputy, Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan). Before long, their investigation leads them to a White Supremacist domestic terrorism group calling itself The Order, led by the extremist Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult).
Review:
Like the events depicted in 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon, The Order shines a light on a chapter of US history that I was not previously familiar with – and like with the Oscar-winning Scorsese film, the subject matter depicted in The Order is sadly just as relevant now as it would have been if the film had been made at the time of the real-life events. Despite this, the film never feels preachy, and it instead allows the horrors to speak for themselves without impacting the pace of the crime thriller elements.
In many ways, The Order is a traditional crime thriller, centred around a solid, character-driven performance from Jude Law as a veteran FBI agent drawn into events. Although Jude Law’s character, Terry Husk, is based on a real-life agent, he’s a fictional invention for the movie, and as such, he could have easily descended into tropes in lesser hands. But Jude Law’s performance means that we get hints at Husk’s past – included his strained relationships with his family and fellow FBI agent Joanne Carney (played by Jurnee Smollett, who does a lot with a little) – but his character never becomes the ‘alcoholic cop with a past’ cliche. Terry Husk’s world-weariness is nicely contrasted by the optimism and enthusiasm of local youngblood Deputy Jamie Bowen, and Tye Sheridan‘s performance also keeps his character on the right side of cliched.
“…Nicholas Hoult continues to show what a versatile actor he is…”
On the other side of the law is Nicholas Hoult as real-life leader of The Order, Bob Mathews. Nicholas Hoult continues to show what a versatile actor he is – I think the last film I saw him in before this was Renfield, and it’s hard to imagine two more polar opposite roles. Nicholas Hoult manages to walk the difficult line between making Bob Mathews feel like a fully realised, three-dimensional character rather than a caricature, while never seeking to excuse or diminish the character’s appalling behaviour. Nicholas Hoult brings an intensity to his performance so that viewers can see the power that Bob Mathews held over his followers, while never shying away from the horrors he unleashed, whether that’s in terms of physical violence, or the indoctrination of the children in the group.
Like some of the best true-life crime thrillers (including the all-time greats like Zodiac), The Order works because it feels grounded in the details of the investigation, rather than being too reliant on surprise twists or dramatic firefights. There are, admittedly, a handful of action sequences, but they’re all very grounded in reality, and the movie’s sudden bursts of violence are all the more shocking because of how unheralded they are. Meanwhile, both the mechanics of the FBI investigation, and the escalation of The Order’s plans , feel all too believable.
“…a tense & grounded crime thriller…”
Director Justin Kurzel does a great job of orchestrating the bursts of violence, capturing the natural beauty of the wildernesses on the fringes of US society, and maintaining the slow burn tension throughout the movie’s runtime of just under two hours. As long as you don’t go into this film expecting stunts and fireworks, you’ll be rewarded with a tense and grounded crime drama than works both as a standalone thriller, and as a timely reminder of the dangers posed by allowing racist and extremist leaders the oxygen of publicity.
