The Order is a 2024 Canadian crime thriller film directed by Justin Kurzel and written by Zach Baylin, based on the 1989 non-fiction book The Silent Brotherhood: The Chilling Inside Story of America's Violent, Anti-Government Militia Movement by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt. The film revolves around an FBI agent who goes after a white supremacist terrorist group known as the Order that was active in the United States in the 1980s. It stars Jude Law as FBI agent Terry Husk and Nicholas Hoult as Robert Jay Mathews, leader of The Order. Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Alison Oliver, and Marc Maron appear in supporting roles. The film had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2024, where it competed for the Golden Lion.

Plot

In 1983, Bruce Pierce and Gary Yarbrough lure Walter West out into the woods at night under the ruse of a hunting trip, and murder him. Veteran FBI agent Terry Husk reopens the long-vacant field office in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, looking for an easier caseload after working on investigations of the Ku Klux Klan and Cosa Nostra, and hoping he can persuade his estranged wife and daughter to reconnect with him. In Spokane, Washington, Bob Mathews, Pierce, Yarbrough, and David Lane rob a Washington Mutual branch. Mathews then visits his pregnant mistress and later his wife, giving each bags of cash from the robbery. After reviewing a case file on Aryan Nations and its founder Richard Butler, Husk introduces himself to the local sheriff's department and meets Deputy Jamie Bowen, who offers to show him to Butler's compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Bowen, who has a mixed-race family, tells Husk that West, now missing for several weeks, is a childhood friend and member of Aryan Nations who told him the group is counterfeiting money. Bowen suspects that the group is also responsible for a recent synagogue bombing, as well as a string of robberies, including the one in Spokane. Husk meets with fellow FBI agent Joanne Carney, who tells him that a failed bomb was found in a pornography shop in Spokane around the same time as the robbery. West's wife points Husk and Bowen to where Pierce and Yarbrough took him hunting, and they discover his body in a shallow grave. Husk and Bowen visit Butler at his compound, who tells them that he ejected Pierce and Yarbrough from Aryan Nations for using the group's printing press to counterfeit, and denies knowledge of their subsequent activities. As they leave, Husk notices a book on display in the compound's church, of which a copy was also present at the scene of West's murder. Butler identifies it as the white supremacist novel The Turner Diaries. Afterwards, Butler confronts Mathews about his splinter group's activities. While Butler seeks to work within the law and elect white supremacists to public office, Mathews aims to promote white separatism through domestic terrorism. Butler has his assistant deliver a copy of The Turner Diaries to Bowen's home, hoping to tip off police to Mathews' plan. Yarbrough bombs a pornographic theater as a distraction for Mathews to lead the robbery of an armored truck. Refusing to wait for backup, Husk attempts to stop the robbery but is outnumbered, while Bowen freezes and does not engage, angering Husk. While elk hunting, Husk realizes he's being watched by Mathews, who he does not yet recognize. They speak, and Mathews subtly threatens him before leaving. Bowen studies The Turner Diaries, and explains to Husk that he believes the splinter group, now calling itself The Order, is using the novel as a blueprint for overthrowing the federal government and igniting a race war. Mathews sends Pierce to Denver to assassinate Alan Berg, a Jewish talk radio host who frequently spars on-air with antisemites that call into his show. Mathews leads another armored truck robbery in Ukiah, California. A gun dropped at the crime scene leads police to Tony Torres, a new recruit who straw purchased guns for Mathews. Torres turns informant and leads police to a meeting with Mathews. Husk once again does not wait for backup and attempts to arrest Mathews, triggering a shootout; this time Bowen springs into action and provides covering fire. Yarbrough is apprehended, while Mathews shoots Bowen as he makes his escape. Husk abandons the chase to try to save Bowen, but he quickly succumbs to his injuries. Mathews retreats with Pierce and Lane to his safe house on Whidbey Island, Washington, planning to "declare war" on the federal government and stage a major terrorist attack. Husk and Carney lead an FBI raid on the house. Pierce and Lane try to escape and are immediately apprehended, while Mathews makes a stand, repelling the FBI as they attempt to storm the house. The FBI tactical team orders the house to be burned to force Mathews out despite Husk's warning that Matthews would not leave under any circumstances. When Matthews fails to emerge, Husk enters alone, hoping to persuade Mathews to surrender. He aims his gun at Mathews, who had already been aiming at Husk; both slowly take down their weapons, before it is revealed that they were only looking at each other through a mirror. Mathews lays down in a bathtub, and Husk is forced to retreat when the fire detonates a large cache of ammunition. After the raid, Husk goes hunting. As he trains his rifle on the same elk from earlier, the film ends. A postscript explains that the real-life Mathews perished in the fire and his associates were imprisoned, and that The Turner Diaries has inspired numerous other acts of domestic terror, including the Oklahoma City bombing and the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

Cast

Production

In February 2023, it was announced that Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult would star in The Order, directed by Justin Kurzel from a screenplay by Zach Baylin based on The Silent Brotherhood, a 1989 non-fiction book by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt. Law would also produce with Kurzel, while Baylin would executive produce. In May 2023, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, Odessa Young, Alison Oliver and Marc Maron joined the cast. Filming began in May 2023, in Alberta, Canada.

Release

The Order had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2024, where it competed for the Golden Lion. In May 2024, Vertical acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, and released it on December 6, 2024 in a limited theatrical release in 600-700 theaters. Distributors were nervous about streaming the film in the US because of the political context, in the lead-up to the 2024 US elections. Amazon Prime Video acquired the rights to stream in multiple international territories excluding the United States, and it premiered on Amazon in the UK on December 27, 2024.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 152 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "A stoic Jude Law and diabolically good Nicholas Hoult turn the tides of history in this grippingly intense thrill ride." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Tim Grierson of Screen International wrote that the film was "always skillfully choreographed but never showy". Stephanie Bunbury of Deadline Hollywood characterized the film as a "sweeping slice of political Americana". Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "a gripping true story of American violence".

See also

Brotherhood of Murder

References

External links

Official website The Order at IMDb