Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult star in a ‘superbly acted’ cop drama about US neo-Nazis

Jude Law plays an FBI agent pursuing a killer played by Nicholas Hoult in another “tense” murderer movie from director Justin Kurzel (Macbeth, Nitram).

You know where Justin Kurzel stands. With the exception of one Shakespeare adaptation (Macbeth) and one video game adaptation (assassin’s creedThe Australian director, who has made some hard-hitting films about real-life murderers, including The Kelly Gang and Nitram, has released his latest film, The Order, which dramatizes the deeds of a group of white supremacists in the Pacific Northwest in 1983 and 1984. As the film’s final caption informs us, these deeds have been copied by many since. Invaded the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

The group’s leader, Bob Matthews (Nicholas Hoult), is tired of listening to a racist pastor (Victor Slezak) preach that America will one day be white only, and decides to take action: To fund the training and equipment of his comrades, they mastermind a series of armed robberies, move on to assassinations, and ultimately launch a major domestic terrorist attack.

Jude Law plays FBI agent Terry Husk, who is pursuing Matthews. He’s typical Husk. Separated from his wife and daughters, he’s a surly, grizzled war veteran who drinks, smokes and takes nosebleed pills. In short, he’s a cop movie cliché, but Law’s fierce glares and expletives make him fun to hang out with. Having made a name for himself, but after battling the mob in New York City and damaging his health, Husk moves to a scenic small town in rural Idaho to kick back and enjoy the mountain air. But he soon discovers that the area is full of Aryan tribal flyers, and he investigates with the help of local young cop Jamie (Tye Sheridan).

There are obvious nods to The Kelly Gang, but compared to that film’s wildly psychedelic fever dream, The Order is a somber, steadily paced, conventional drama. Its charismatic cast delivers strong performances, the locations and time periods are beautifully recreated, and, best of all, the violent heists and shootouts are staged with a nerve-wracking intensity that recalls Michael Mann’s Heat. But it never quite hits the mark with the intensity the events demand. We see Husk brooding in the wilderness, sitting at a bar with an FBI colleague (Jurnee Smollett), visiting Jamie’s house, and Matthews hanging out with friends and family. While each of these scenes works well individually, they never combine to provide the kind of thrust the thriller needs to propel the story forward. Zach Baylin’s screenplay, adapted from a book by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, provides little sense of clues being uncovered, dots being connected, or a case being built, and the story plods along without gaining depth, pace, or interest. In fact, since the viewer knows exactly what Matthews is up to from the beginning, it’s vaguely frustrating that it takes Husk and his team so long to figure it out. They get the idea that the robberies and bombings might have something to do with guys who split off from a neo-Nazi church, but it definitely takes a while to get there.

Matthews seems far better at his job than his adversaries. While the FBI agents are prone to botching their operations and Husk himself is a reckless, impulsive mess, Matthews — tall, handsome, and polite — gives polished speeches about his beliefs and expertly plans and executes his crimes. This may be an accurate portrayal, but it even seems like a positive one. It’s hard not to worry that people who share Matthews’ warped views will appreciate The Order more than Kurzel would like.