Warning: Minor SPOILERS forThe Order!Jude Lawand Nicholas Hoult are on opposite ends of the law in the new crime thrillerThe Order, with Law playing FBI agent Terry Husk and Hoult playing Bob Mathews, the leader of a white supremacist terrorist cell. The former tracking the latter makes up much of the narrative, but director Justin Kurzel seems more concerned with the effect each man’s respective ethos has on their life and surroundings. Mathews has constructed a community based on his extreme hatred, while Husk’s dogged pursuit of Good has alienated him from his community — meaning both live in very different warped realities.
The Orderis based on a true story, and Zach Baylin’s screenplay is inspired by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s book,The Order: Inside America’s Racist Underground. Tye Sheridan and Jurnee Smollett join Law as fellow law enforcement officers who are on the case, while Alison Oliver, Odessa Young, and Marc Maron round out the talented ensemble cast. As fascinating as the cat-and-mouse, cop-and-crook dynamic is, the psychological questions the movie poses are what stick in the mind long after.
The Order Review: Jude Law & Nicholas Hoult Explore The Evils Of Hatred In Gripping Crime Thriller
Justin Kurzel’s The Order is a warning, and it leaves us with the chilling sense that what happened hasn’t yet, or maybe can’t, come to an end.
ScreenRantinterviewed Kurzel about how he approached the horrible truth ofNicholas Hoult’s cult leader, why paralleling his story with Jude Law as Husk was so important, and what his interpretation is of one ominously ambiguous scene in the movie.
Director Justin Kurzel On Bringing Out The Hidden Truths Of The Order
“You can be quite overwhelmed by the fact that it’s based on a real person.”
Screen Rant: Justin,The Orderis absolutely incredible. It had me on the edge of my seat for the full hour and 55 minutes. How did you capture the duality and contrasting traits of the two leaders, Husk and Bob Mathews, onscreen?
Justin Kurzel: Well, a lot of it was the dynamic between Nick and Jude and what they both brought to those roles. But we were fascinated that both of them were investigating each other. Usually, it’s one investigating the other, and I found that really intriguing as to what both of them thought about each other and anticipated about each other.
There was something in Husk that could understand and see the fate of Bob Mathews, and there was something in Bob Mathews that was desperately trying to anticipate and pre-judge who this man is that’s going to take him down. So, there was a lot of push and pull between that relationship that I found really exciting in the script.
Screen Rant: Jude Law highlighted your finely attuned radar for honesty in portraying characters. Can you talk about your approach to finding and depicting the truth in each of these characters in the film?
Justin Kurzel: Yeah, I think it’s just trying to ground it. Especially with someone like Nick’s character, Bob Mathews, you’re able to be quite overwhelmed by the fact that it’s based on a real person; a person who’s committed some pretty horrific acts. You’ve got to find a way in which you can see them in a community, visualize them with their family, and attempt to get an understanding as to what their every day is. That’s a real key.
I do these little manifestos with actors. And with [Jude and Nicholas], it’s all about to-do things. What can you do that gets you a little closer to the kind of character that you’re playing? Those two kind of followed each other for a day and watched each other without the other one knowing. It sounds a bit silly, but even just the simple act of that really focuses them on what that point of view is, and what that feeling is in terms of having someone else in your life judging every moment of them, and having to keep tabs on them and what that energy and that focus is. That can be a real key.
Breaking Down One Of The Order’s Most Ambiguous Scenes
“I liked how Bob was maybe underestimating Husk in that moment.”
Screen Rant: There’s a fascinating dynamic between hunter and prey here. In the hunting scene, why does Husk hesitate to shoot the deer? Was Bob’s intention only to observe Husk, or would he have used the gunshot to cover the shot he fired?
Justin Kurzel: I don’t know if I feel like answering that because there’s a really lovely bit of ambiguity about how that scene plays out. What I will say is that Husk is an outlier in that place. He comes to that place and is intimidated and in awe of just the majesty of it. He spent all his time in New York, and this is really supposed to be a kind of life change for him. I think that there’s this sort of pursuit that he thinks he’s going to do, and this is a guy that’s chased the mob and gunned down all sorts of people. He’s definitely kind of an Alpha character.
But there’s something about seeing something so beautiful and majestic and extraordinary as that elk is, especially in that environment, that there is a feeling of whether he wants to disturb that. Bob watches that and makes his own judgment about that, which may or may not have shifted what he was going to do in that moment. I liked how Bob was maybe underestimating Husk in that moment. So, there’s a few things going on there, but I don’t think I would probably nail it down to any one thing.
More About The Order (2024)
For over a year, a series of bold daylight bank robberies and armored car heists leaves law enforcement baffled and the public panicked throughout the Pacific Northwest. As the attacks become increasingly violent, FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law) becomes convinced that the robberies are the work of domestic terrorists that plan to use the loot to finance an armed uprising against the U.S. government.
Based on a true story, The Order follows Husk and his team into the tangled world of white supremacists as they try to head off a violent uprising that could shatter the nation. As the militia builds a war chest of over $4 million, Husk pursues the malevolent racist Bob Mathews to a final bloody standoff that will go down in U.S. history.
The Order
Cast
A lone FBI agent, stationed in a small Idaho town, uncovers a disturbing connection between a series of violent bank robberies and a white supremacist group known as The Order. As the investigation deepens, the agent finds himself up against a dangerous domestic terror organization bent on sowing chaos across the Pacific Northwest.
