The Order: Movie Review

Cast: Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan
Director: Justin Kurtzel

Justin Kurtzel's The Order takes its time to build to an inevitable conclusion - but the journey alone is worth undertaking, thanks to a steely determination to keep proceedings relatively taut and distinctly dour throughout.

Law is lone FBI Agent Terry Husk, who's moved to a new town to investigate in 1980s Idaho America, but whose past indiscretions are weighing heavily upon him. Fascinated by a white supremacist campground nearby, he unwisely recruits eager officer Jamie Bowen (Sheridan, quietly impressive throughout) as they look into a series of robberies and bombings that would appear to have a connection to fascist manifesto The Turner Diaries.

Initially appearing as a solid film and one that is more interested in a formulaic approach to the true crime genre, Kurtzel's handling of the grimmer elements of the movie's MO make this a sickeningly arresting film that somehow against all the odds of familiarity seems to build a vice-like grip on those viewing it.

From Hoult's piercing blue-eyed glass-eyed fanatic who believes actions speak louder than words to Law's wearied, moustachioed cop, Kurtzel puts them on a collision course without ever really putting them up against each other.

Large swathes of The Order concentrate on the minutiae of life in Idaho and the creeping insidious nature of fascism, and while much of it feels like familiar fare in many ways, Kurtzel's steady and focussed attention on the journey, rather than the ultimate destination, makes for a compelling and gut-punch of a movie.

 Much like Snowtown did, Kurtzel's handling of the grimmer elements of human nature leads to a simmering powderkeg of life throughout - and while the conclusion seems somewhat anti-climactic in parts, some of the imagery of the final showdown - along with moments throughout that shock - speak volumes to the horror that lies within many of humankind.