The Order is based on a true story (taken from the 1989 book The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt) and is sadly relevant considering the events of the last several years. Yet that timeliness and some solid performances are really all it has going for it. The story is a fairly routine FBI thriller about an obsessive agent who pursues a criminal mastermind with a deadly agenda. The action is fine, but it can’t fully overcome the thin characters. In the end, there just isn’t a whole lot going on here. It is a basic story with little to say about its subject matter. It goes through its paces dutifully and without a lot of excitement.
The year is 1984 and FBI agent Terry Husk is relocated to smalltown Idaho after a case gone wrong leads to him being estranged from his family. After some flyers from a white supremacist group catches his eye, a deputy points him in the direction of a group of bank robbers who are clearly seeking more than money.
The highlights here are absolutely the performances of Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult as the hero and villain, respectively. Law is desperate, relentless, smart and wounded as Husk. Hoult, as the fanatical Bob Mathews, is cold, manipulative, more interested in his cause than anything else. Law is good in a role we’ve seen a million times before. Hoult is terrifying as a man who believes so strongly in his ideals that he thinks he has the right to hurt whoever he wants in his quest to follow them. I wish The Order (111 minutes, without the end credits) did more than pay lip service to what makes Bob tick. He is mostly a symbol of hatred, which makes the second half of the movie far less captivating than it should be.
There is not much of a sense that any of the characters are making decisions for personal reasons because the screenplay doesn’t give them anything more than cliches for motivations. Husk works for law enforcement, so he is a crusader against evil. He may also be looking for redemption, but that is left quite vague. Mathews blames those different from him (mainly Jews) for issues in his past, though the focus is on what he does, not why or how it affects others. That emptiness holds this back, even if Hoult’s dedication to Mathews’ God-complex does make his coldness legitimately scary.
The robbery scenes and a couple of shootouts have an intensity to them that is very effective. These are men with a single-mindedness that pushes everything else aside. Husk lives to work and hunt criminals. Mathews feels like he has been divinely chosen to take this country back for its rightful rulers. Whenever a gun is raised, it is done for purpose, not show. Director Justin Kurzel handles these moments with a straightforward, completely unflashy, style that is perfect for this material.
One thing that The Order can definitely not be called is exploitative. It approaches potentially sensationalistic subject matter with a detachment that is oddly refreshing. Nothing that Mathews or his followers do looks even the least bit appealing. The lack of melodrama is nice; the lack of drama and suspense is disappointing. The lead actors are both really good, however, the overall package just isn’t very compelling.
2¾ out of 5
Cast:
Jude Law as Terry Husk
Nicholas Hoult as Bob Mathews
Tye Sheridan as Jamie Bowen
Jurnee Smollett as Joanne Carney
Marc Maron as Alan Berg
Directed by Justin Kurzel
Screenplay by Zach Baylin
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