In his film-making career, Australian director Justin Kurzel has dealt with murder sprees (Snowtown), massacres (Nitram), outlaws (True History of the Kelly Gang) and, in his latest picture, The Order, far-right domestic terror organisations in the US. But Kurzel is not drawn to crime for crime’s sake. Rather, he is fascinated by the context of it all – by the reverberations set in motion by an act of violence; by the links between atrocities past and those of the present. He pointedly draws parallels between the events explored in The Order, which unfolds in the Pacific Northwest of the early 1980s, and more recent actions such as the 6 January Capitol attack.
This sober, factually based FBI procedural stars an excellent Jude Law, sporting standard issue US law enforcement paunch and moustache combo. The action starts with a spate of bank robberies. Careworn FBI agent Terry Husk (Law) suspects that there’s a link between the crimes and a burgeoning white nationalist movement in the region. What follows is a wary game of cat and mouse, with Husk tracking the charismatic leader of the underground militia, a wholesome, apple-cheeked farm boy named Bob Matthews (an impressive Nicholas Hoult), who is always a few steps ahead of the veteran FBI man on his tail.
There are episodes of muscular, tautly directed action but the overall tone is brooding melancholy, all of it accompanied by a fretful, moaning wind and an eerie score.
In UK and Irish cinemas
