Hoult and Law bolster The Order’s thrilling real-world drama
This has been a monumental year for Nicholas Hoult. He has starred in four films: The Garfield Movie, Juror #2, The Order, and the upcoming Nosferatu. It’s difficult to envision a wider-range of films for an actor in one year, and The Order may be his most consequential role. In The Order, Hoult shares the spotlight with Jude Law, who is also playing against type. The film follows a series of real-life events that took place in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s, with themes that continue to be relevant given the U.S.’s turbulent state of current political affairs. Procedural and moody, The Order avoids preachiness in favor of character exploration and thrilling action set pieces.
In 1989, news reporters Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt wrote a book, The Silent Brotherhood, about the rise of a white nationalist, neo-nazi terrorist organization also known as The Order. The new film, based on Flynn and Gerhardt’s book and retitled The Order, is directed by Justin Kurzel (True History of the Kelly Gang). The story begins as an FBI agent, Terry Husk (Jude Law), comes to a small Washington town to investigate a series of bank robberies that he suspects are a part of a larger villainous intention. His suspicions prove accurate, as The Order, the neo-Nazi group led by Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult), has been orchestrating the robberies as a way to finance their white nationalist movement. Mathews and his followers use the steps outlined in the (real) book/pamphlet The Turner Diaries, a guidebook about retaking the country, to stage an uprising against the United State government and establish a white Christian homeland.
Hoult and Law are stellar. Hoult portrays Mathews with idealist charisma and menace, while Law infuses Husk with a churning internal frustration as he considers the threat of disorder in an otherwise serene geography. Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One; Mud) gives a strong supporting performance as a young, untested local cop. Even as the script tiptoes into generic “rogue cop” territory and includes glaringly obvious dramatic nods to real events, the film never loses sight of the opposing forces at play, and demonstrates how and why these racist frustrations can bubble up and boil over.
Kurzel was inspired to make the film after witnessing the horrific imagery of the January 6th insurrection on the U.S. Capitol building. The Order’s screenwriter Zach Baylin (King Richard) weaves chilling lines into the dialogue that echo today’s headlines, like, “In ten years we’ll have members in Congress, in the Senate.” Lines like these, and Kurzel’s inspiration for making the film, never feel overbearing. Because the film establishes each character’s personality and ambitions so efficiently, and follows events so matter-of-factly (even when the specifics are fictionalized or sensationalized), the viewing experience is compelling from start to finish. You can’t look away, which is a testament to lean, confident filmmaking.
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The Order opens in theaters on Friday, December 6th.
