The Order

Rating - 8.1: Overall, good historical crime thriller that exposes the unknown history of "The Order" in the 1980s; the film does a very good job showcasing the beauty of the Pacific Northwest through its cinematography and creates an engaging thriller based on real events, but the movie is held back by its pretty shallow composite characters and overt parallels to modern-day events.

Direction - Good: The direction on a macroscale feels grand as they have these big panning shots to show the beauty in the seclusion of the Pacific Northwest, and he does a good job building the thrilling nature of the action scenes; the direction on a microscale is good as these moments are where you really get to know the characters and their relationships with each other; the storytelling is good as it follows events that really happened, but uses your emotional investment with these characters to make you care about what happens next; he builds tension very well as this is what makes the action sequences feel very thrilling

Story - Pretty Good to Good: The concept is good, as is a historical crime thriller on "The Order", a white nationalist group that is not really heard of that much; the plot structure is good, as it goes through the rise and fall of "The Order"; character writing is good for the real-life characters, as it does a good job accurately depicting how they were in real life, but pretty bad for the composite characters, as they are pretty void of anything that makes you care for them

Screenplay - Pretty Good to Good: The dialogue is good and crisp, and does a good job in painting who these people actually were, but feels a bit overt when they are trying to make modern references to storming the capital; the biopic does a good job in bringing to light the rise in white nationalism in the 1980s, "The Order," and "The Turner Diaries," and the parallels between this and January 6th; the foreshadowing is good, but mostly follows what happened in real life

Acting - Pretty Good to Good: Jude Law - Good (Commands the movie with his presence and carries himself well in the action sequences; builds chemistry well with his castmates), Nicholas Hoult - Good (Plays the antagonist well, as you get a sense of who the character was in real life), Tye Sheridan - Pretty Good (Plays the sidekick role well and has good chemistry with Law), Rest of the cast - Pretty Good (Everyone plays their role well and helps support moving the story forward and the main cast)

Score - Good: It is used very well in conjunction with the cinematic nature shots to show the seclusion in the environment, and helps make the thriller tense in the more action-based scenes

Cinematography - Good to very Good: It had really beautiful shots to help show the seclusion of the Pacific Northwest and used them well in the action sequences

Editing - Good: Felt polished and helped put together the action sequences

Sound - Very Good: Felt very clear and authentic to the action sequences and helped make the thriller tense in the right moments; helped also show the seclusion in some moments

Visual Effects - Good: Good use of practical effects in the action sequences

Production Design - Good: Really helped show the beauty and seclusion of the Pacific Northwest

Pacing - Pacing is good

Climax - The climax is executed well as it feels like a culmination of all the tension that was building throughout the movie

Tone - Tone is similar to that of a historical crime thriller, which is what this movie is

Final Notes - I saw the premiere at the Austin Film Festival.

Jerry Kurzel's solid, gripping, well executed fact-based crime thriller about domestic terrorism perpetrated by a white supremist group known as the Order. In 1983 in the Pacific Northwest a veteran federal agent named Terry Husk, marvelously played by Jude Law, believes that a series of violent bank robberies, counterfeiting, and armored car rip-offs are being done by a new dangerous group of young separatist white supremists that are led by an icy radical leader, Bob Mathews, brilliantly played by Nicholas Hoult in an impressive performance, who is amassing vast monies from these robberies to build an army to attack the U. S. government. What follows is a suspenseful and deadly game of cat and mouse between Husk's FBI team and Mathews' lethal group. Astute direction by Kurzel, with superlative supporting performances by Tye Sheridan, Marc Maron, Jurnee Smollett, George Tchortov, and Danny Yip. Outstanding cinematography by Adam Arkapaw, and an effective score by Jed Kurzel.

The Order was a pretty average film that didn't quite live up to the weight of its subject matter. With such a serious and intense real-life inspiration, I expected a much more gripping, emotional, and thought-provoking story. Unfortunately, what we got was something that felt rushed in places and drawn out in others, with pacing that struggled to find consistency. The characters were underdeveloped and lacked emotional depth, making it hard to feel invested in their journey or motivations. Even the antagonist felt flat, which took away from the tension the film tried to build.

There were a few well-executed scenes-moments where the direction and cinematography showed real promise-but they were too few and far between. The tone also seemed confused at times, shifting awkwardly between thriller and drama without fully committing to either. It's the kind of movie that had all the pieces but couldn't quite put them together in a compelling way. Not terrible by any means, just very forgettable. I wouldn't warn people against watching it, but I wouldn't recommend it either.

Another dark piece of history. I never knew of this story, so i was fascinated the whole time. I'd love to do a deeper dive into it. The feel to this movie was great! I felt like i was in a time machine. The actors were absolutely amazing, especially Jude Law! His character was absolutely intense and something you love to see on the big screen. It was him alone that made this movie as enjoyable as it was. The tense feelings this movie gave you as the plot slowly shows itself. It honestly feels like this same thing could happen today but you'd hope we would be better at recognizing it. I highly suggest this for everyone to see!

Saw in AMC theater 12-14-2024.

The Order is about Bob Matthews and his group referenced in the title that is on a small-town white power crusade. I was interested to see this movie because of the great cast and interesting twist including a few bank robberies. While it is super beautiful to look at and the main cast (Jude Law & Nicholas Hoult) do great, it didn't leave much of an impact on me. However, it was a fun time seeing it on the big screen.

The positives: The casting is great and the idaho landscape makes for beautiful shots. I really liked the exciting bank robbing parts as well as well as a being a grizzled detective drama. Bob Matthews is a interesting but vile character who has a weird personality of being a "family-man" and friendly but also blowing up p*rn theatres and killing innocents. I thought he was the best character in the movie, however the rest of the character's are pretty much one-note. I will get to that in the negatives, I also liked the score as well with it being very melodic but brooding at times (not your average detective drama score). The plot overall is fascinating and can be thrilling at times with well done robberies, chases, and some emotional moments.

Negatives: Like I said the characters besides Bob Matthews are pretty one note. I liked Jude law as a detective but he really dosen't do much except be the veteran grizzled detective with a young naive partner. The movie dosen't have the story structure to really make you care all that much about anyone. Sometimes scenes would bounce from one to another just to get to the next thrilling moments (which were solid). Also some dumb moments like a multiple moments where characters risk their lives in obvious situations where the cards are stacked against them and they don't need too.

All in all I would recommend if you wanna watch a pretty alright detective drama with some beautiful shots. I do not dislike the movie but its more of a vehicle for this great cast to handle a interesting story rather than interesting characters.