SYNOPSIS: Based on a real event, “The Order,” a new true-crime drama starring Jude Law and now streaming on Prime Video, gruff Idaho-based FBI agent Terry Husk (Law) identifies crime activity in the Pacific Northwest that could be related to Bob Mathews and The Order, his white supremacist militant group.
CAST: Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Alison Oliver, Odessa Young, Marc Maron, Huxley Fisher, Sebastian Pigott, Phillip Forest Lewitski, George Tchortov, Victor Slezak, Philip Granger, Daniel Doheny. Directed by Justin Kurzel.
REVIEW: Set in the early 1980s “The Order” is an unsettling film, made all the more chilling in our time of rising white nationalism and extremist militant groups.
Jude Law is firmly in character actor mode as the disheartened Husk. Still stinging from a broken marriage and stationed in a town where, as the local sheriff says, “the only crime around here is catching trout without a licence,” he’s paunchy and world weary, but while he may be burnt-out, he still has a burning desire to find justice.
He is a standard issue rumpled cop with a past and a depressing present. Even more standard is his sidekick squeaky-clean cop Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan). Both are terrific, but how many times have we seen an older, dishevelled cop paired with a younger go-getter?
Their match up may be conventional, but director Justin Kurzel keeps the action taut enough, and the violence visceral enough, to make up for the more familiar elements.
As Matthews, Nicolas Hoult is the disturbing face of extremism. In his reckless pursuit of a racial revolution, he stages risky robberies, bombs synagogues and kills at will. The robberies are meant to finance his plans for an uprising and his followers, who, like him, don’t think the Aryan Nations are hardcore enough in their beliefs, would follow him into hell.
His motives aren’t political as much as they are ideological, and as such, he is more a cult leader than a soldier but Hoult’s cool demeanour and chiseled good looks give his portrayal of the controlling but charismatic Matthews a terrifying edge.
In many ways “The Order” is a run-of-the-mill police procedural about two men, one good guy, one bad guy, who are willing to do anything for their cause. We’ve seen that before, but the way Kurzel builds tension and shines a light on the dark underbelly of white nationalism elevates the traditional plotting.