It feels like since Captain Marvel we haven't gotten to see Jude Law nearly enough. TIFF sought to remedy that with not one but two of his movies at the festival this year. I sadly wasn't able to see him in Ron Howard's Eden, but I had the chance to see The Order and was pleasantly surprised.
Directed by Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel, The Order follows Law as Terry Husk, an FBI agent who joins the hunt against a group of armed bank robbers who he believes are tied to a white-supremacist organization looking to fight back against the government. While Husk is reportedly an amalgamation of several different people, the story at its heart is based on true events, making this not just thrilling but a snapshot of the dangers that charismatic radicals can represent.
Early on I wasn't jiving with this one. I don't know if it was the setting or the story but nothing was gripping me early on. I think one thing I struggled with was how reserved the performances were in the first act, as it takes some time to see everyone's true colours. Once the tension starts ramping up and the characters get louder I was very much drawn in, the opening act just really wasn't all that interesting to me. Nicholas Hoult plays the leader of the antagonists, essentially acting as a radicalized sect of a white-supremacist group unhappy with the actions (or lack thereof) being taken for their cause. Hoult starts out pretty quiet, but then shows the charisma that leads so many to follow him and becomes a much more interesting character. It's a character that clearly believes he is doing the right thing which makes him fascinating to follow despite his frankly vile beliefs, and despite those faults it's easy to see why someone with similar beliefs would follow him as he delivers a very charismatic performance.
Similarly, it takes some time to warm up fully to Jude Law's performance. Part of this is that there are elements of his character that we don't get to fully explore, but once the plot gets rolling I started appreciating his performance more and more. Tye Sheridan plays a local police officer that gets involved with the case, and he was just okay to me. There's a bit of innocence to his character that makes it feel as though he doesn't fit in with the federal agents called in, so when scenes come where he needs to be more commanding I just didn't fully buy it. One supporting performance I very much bought into though was Alison Oliver as the wife of Nicholas Hoult's character. She plays the supportive wife turning a blind eye extremely well, then shifts into a profound sadness as she begins to understand the extent of her husband's actions. Thanks to her beliefs it should be hard to feel bad for her, but that sadness is so deep it's harder not to feel for her. Jurnee Smollett is also great as one of the FBI agents. We don't see too much of her but she truly commands the screen whenever she appears.
I really wish I like the first act of this more, as I truly enjoyed what followed. The middle of the film ramps up the tension and intrigue and eventually hooked me in, only to blow me away with the climax. I won't spoil anything but the big summation of the film's events is stunning to watch. It just takes way too long for the film to get interesting for me to appreciate the entirety of it. So on the whole the opening was just not interesting, and I think we needed to explore the characters a bit more, but this does wind up being a very strong thriller. 3.5/5
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