Compelling 'The Order' offers a taut Jude Law performance with a timely true story
Old school and true story-based, this one entertains and haunts all at once.
Terry Husk (Jude Law) has taken on some tough crews, but they had a well-worn goal and boring ambition. A particular group of domestic terrorists, aka extremists fulfilling a methodic uprising, poses a different kind of threat. Inspired by the Turner Diaries, a sadistic set of steps that includes recruiting even-keeled humans and turning them into killing machines all in the name of white nationalists giving lame purpose to their violent endgame. Husk came to Idaho to slow down and reset, but that’s not happening.
Justin Kurzel’s The Order doesn’t mess around setting up the stakes of the plot and introducing the characters, but it’s never in a hurry. Nicholas Hoult plays Bob, the leader of the extremist group, someone who clashes charismatically with Law’s FBI agent. When Terry and his new partner (Tye Sheridan, youthful intensity working well) come late to a heist, he locks eyes with Bob and nearly his fate. Their interactions over the course of the movie carry a mix of Insomnia and Heat intensity: A pair of guys who don’t hate each other, but know their paths will eventually collide in a bloody way.
One of the best parts of the film is the old school, 70s-style aesthetic. If you remember the under-appreciated Jason Statham film, The Bank Job, you’ll understand the look and feel of The Order. It’s a non-showy and precise thriller that knows how to set up the lives of both the protagonists and the antagonists. You never feel like you’re watching a true story merely laid on the screen like pancake batter to a hot pan, but you’re also getting conviction at the front door.
Kurzel doesn’t always hit the mark (Assassins Creed was bad), but he does have a respectable punk rock film sense. It was on display in MacBeth, his warped testosterone history Fassbender-drunk drama. Something tells me he wanted the actor who starred in the two previously mentioned films to lead his new one, but I’m glad he found Law.
The versatile British talent turns on the burly, stoic yet semi-haunted vibe well in Husk’s skin, showing a man going through something in his personal life and still running 100 mph at his job to defuse the stress. The same guy who can turn on the charm for lighter fare like Alfie or Spy still knows how to turn into a sinister kid on screen. If you’ve seen Road to Perdition, you’ll get it. The Order offers him the good guy with a burning desire to finish the task kind of bed to play in, and he does very well.
Hoult gets to show off his own versatility with this movie and the starring role in Clint Eastwood’s final film, Juror #2. He imbues Bob with a reverence that pushes others to follow him into bigger and deadlier attacks. An armored truck and theater bombs grow into assassinations. Hoult doesn’t overplay the hand, choosing instead to let his rage simmer under the surface.
The person nearly steals the film with only a few scenes is Marc Maron as radio voice, Alan Berg. The Jewish host was an outspoken host with a confrontational style that attracted members of The Order to consider him a threat. The philosophy that powers these crazy souls is a wish to eliminate all Jews and African Americans back to Africa. If you stood up to them even in spoken word, you were a threat. Maron plays Berg to the tilt, showcasing his abrasive yet heartfelt style that rubbed many wrong but never lacked provocation. Hat tip to Jurnee Smollett for giving her badge a feisty backbone that keeps Husk in check. You may feel like she’s yelling at you, and it’s fine.
Kurzel’s movie never wavers in its nearly two hour runtime. You won’t stare at the watch, or find yourself bored. The story knows when to slow down and speed up, and the heists/attacks are well staged and choreographed. The director employs a guerilla, gritty take on action, and it fits the tale. A few scenes won’t shock and will have the viewer humming the fate of a character in their breath right before the bullets rip through, but The Order ends with a haunting bang.
It’s not hard to connect the dots to the current state of affairs in the country as Election Week hits its endgame: separatist groups and extremist terrorism is still a real and lurking threat. The times may be updated, but the toll of The Order (the name of the movie is also what Bob’s group called themselves) shows how bad it can get.
Like Husk, you’ll wonder how a group of individuals can believe in such craziness and carry out missions, and then come to the realization that men like him will forever be necessary to be the line that gets drawn between good and bad.
Well done, Mr. Kurzel. Well done, Mr. Law. Don’t miss this one when it hits theaters in December.