THE ORDER Movie Review | Venice Film Festival 2024

The Order is a melting pot of bleakness and tension where Kurzel’s trademark uncompromising old-school moustachioed raw grit make for an arresting neo-western.

Sometimes cinema can be a respite from the real world, a way to forget the woes of our daily lives and find solace in love stories, exciting adventures, epic sci-fi, redemption stories and more. However, other times cinema carries the burden of reminding us of some stories, especially those based on real events, are sadly all to present in modern times regardless of how long it has been since the harrowing events depicted took place.

Such is the case in Justin Kurzel’s The Order, as the director is no stranger to delivering cautionary tales that carry a heavy load of its emotional weight, masterfully delivering tension and suspense through characters, set-pieces, action and words we can be all too familiar with.

In 1983, in the Pacific Northwest, lone FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude law) is stationed in the sleepy, picturesque Idaho town of Coeur d’Alene where baffled law enforcement scrambles for answers about a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations, and armoured car heists. With the help of Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan) comes to believe the crimes are not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals, but a group of dangerous domestic terrorists inspired by their radical, charismatic leader Bob Matthews (Nicholas Hoult) who plotting a devastating war against the United States government. Kurzel’s latest work is a more than effective genre-spin on American white supremacy, where the story’s relevance, unfortunately, speaks for itself.

Kurzel’s direction is methodical but steely in its portrayal of the setting and characters, he’s surprisingly reserved in depictions of any hate crimes, only showcasing violence when absolutely necessary, enhancing the impact of each set-piece. His framing is more of a loathing stare into the insular & pathetic psychology behind the inevitable self-implosion of the titular cult.

To achieve this, director Justin Kurzel once more teams up with cinematographer Adam Arkapaw keep a cold, impartial distance eye to the portrayal of Husk and Matthews’ rivalry, a confrontation that is built up through a continuous pursuit as a classic white and black hat game of cat & mouse, clear to see in how they draw inspiration from several renowned contemporary westerns, but unlike cynical deconstructions of the genre like Hell Or High Water or Wind River, Kurzel’s take exhibits on the neo-Western has a more cerebral undercurrent to it echoing the likes of Michael Mann’s Heat or William Friedkin’s The French Connection, but in classic de-glamourised armour-piercing Kurzel style. Law is in a state of grace, excelling as the gum-chewing, whisky-drinking moustachioed special agent on the hunt, a haunted man whose isolation is alluded to be self-imposed, but never confirmed, which allows Law to exhibit a level of nuance in his character that is not present, and to be fair not needed, in the rest of the movie.

What makes the rivalry between him and Hoult a classic but blurred battled between good and even, as Kurzel is sure to paint his “heroes” in shades of grey, is how much one man mirrors the other, both are failed family men-on-a-mission whose last hope is to achieve self-perceived redemption by fulfilling their goals, as both share a belief that they are the last great American cowboys, who happen to fall into each other’s orbit, and whereas Husk is a man of unrelenting focus, Matthews is a cold-blooded man with a plan, and one who enjoys playing mind games.

A compelling dynamic that sees the bound-to-clash adversaries excel but it’s Nicholas Hoult who delivers a career-best performance demonstrating immense range in what is a cathartically different role to what he usually plays: a cruel & heartless ringleader whose ideology is extreme even for some of his kinsmen.

A special mention must be made for Bowens, who is the heart of the film and the embodiment of everything Husk longs to bring back into his life, the happy family he lost due to his dedication to the job. But there are more pieces to this harrowing puzzle, and in the hands of another director, Husk’s superior Joanne Carney (Jurnee Smollett) may have been nothing than a thankless bit part, but Kurzel’s measured take highlights how she is the only black character in a story about combatting the frightening emergence of a white supremacist new world order, a fact that while never acknowledged by any character, is informed by her constant attempts to control Husk’s furious pursuit, revealing the checkered history between the two as the white men on opposing sides of the law force themselves into the centre of the story.

When it comes to the action, Kurzel is as cold and uncompromising as ever with how he frames each shootout sequence, even in how & when each set-piece is inserted into the film, and what it may lack in spectacle & choreography is made up for with unfiltered violent & brutality on display on display.

Rarely there is subtlety to be found in The Order, but it’s hard to argue that this story calls for it, thematically one can draw from Matthews’ proclamation that: “Dead men are remembered for their deeds.”, and to Kurzel’s and screenwriter Zach Baylin these misguided characters never feel like martyrs, only disenfranchised losers whose failures must always be someone else’s problem.

It’s a great on all departments kind of film, one that wears its inspirations of its sleeve thanks to the familiar criminal-hunt structure & character dynamics, even with its humour, while effective & carefully added not to strip the weight of the concerning real story but only to serve for brief moments to release the intensity. It’s a classic action film, a lean & mean thriller that hooks until the haunting white-text-over-black-background fills us in on the updates since the events took place in the 1980s.

THE ORDER is a melting pot of bleakness & tension where Kurzel’s trademark uncompromising old-school moustachioed raw grit make for an arresting neo-western. Hoult impresses with cold, calculating & commanding career-best work.

It’s Jude Law (& Order) vs Neo-Nazis in a sadly too topical a story.

Final Grade: B+

About The Order

In 1983, a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations, and armored car heists frightens communities throughout the Pacific Northwest.

As baffled law enforcement agents scrambled for answers, a lone FBI agent, stationed in the sleepy, picturesque town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, comes to believe the crimes are not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals, but of a group of dangerous domestic terrorists, inspired by a radical, charismatic leader, plotting a devastating war against the federal government of the United States.

The Order comes to theaters on December 6th, 2024.

NEXT: BABYGIRL Movie Review | Venice Film Festival 2024