The Order is based on the true story of a violent white supremacist group that operated in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980’s. Based on the book The Silent Brotherhood, the movie is a partly fictionalized story of real-life Bob Mathews (portrayed by Nicholas Hoult), leader of The Order. To balance opposing characters, the movie created a fictional FBI agent named Terry Husk (Jude Law). Husk leads the pursuit of Mathews and The Order.
The opening scene establishes the natural setting with sweeping shots of landscapes. They seem to be filmed with higher contrast and, despite their beauty, convey a foreboding feeling. Nature plays a role throughout, with key moments occurring in the wilderness. That seems an intentional choice. Bob Mathews was also a proponent of the Northwest Territorial Imperative, a proposal to create a white-only haven in remote Northwest areas. These provided racist separatist groups self-sufficiency in game, fishing, and farming. They were also hard for government agencies to detect and monitor.
The group gathers money by robbing banks, and The Order has tightly-planned heist scenes reminiscent of Point Break and Heat. These are exciting, but despite what the trailer shows, The Order is not a heist movie. It’s a character drama, one where most of the story is in the quiet moments away from the explosions and gunfire. In one scene, a sudden stillness falls during an elk hunt and a character shift takes place. In another, a friendly conversation between Husk and Kimmy, his partner’s wife, suddenly turns quiet and a line is drawn.
Beyond the captivating pacing, the performances are exceptional. So complete is the persona of Husk, it’s hard to believe the gravelly-voiced American lawman once portrayed British womanizer Alfie. Husk is a loaded name, describing the remnant of a previously fulfilling personal and professional life. Jude Law’s portrayal is magnificently uncomfortable. His Husk is alone, awkward, and unable to stop working. After an intense encounter, we see a coping habit that might be how Husk’s previous life dissipated. His crumbling loner is the foil to Hoult’s magnetic, community-building Mathews.
Hoult’s sincere and intense portrayal grounds the entire story, elevating it beyond formulaic cops-and-robbers. Most racist villains are one-note caricatures, evil in every way. Hoult brings such charismatic swagger to Mathews that his followers become believable characters. He also brings a tenderness in his depiction of fatherhood, and a seemingly sincere belief in community. With a steely-eyed gaze, he recruits, plans, robs, and terrorizes. He also displays strategic intelligence, telling his gang, “No more of that cross-burning, we don’t want that kind of attention.” All of this combines to create a genuine unease. How far will this guy make it?
The supporting performances are also strong. Jurnee Smollett’s FBI agent has a natural aggressiveness, giving the role a lived-in feel. Tye Sheridan’s local officer and Morgan Holmstrom as the officer’s wife both have performances that step out of type to leave emotional impressions.
Go in expecting a character-centered story and you’ll get a haunting true-to-life story of fighting domestic terrorism.
