One of the big bummers about going to any film festival is that you’re going to miss something that you think sounds awesome. And for us at this year’s TIFF, it was Justin Kurzel’s The Order, a based-on-a-true-story thriller about law enforcement attempting to take down a white supremacist cult. It’s got Jude Law, Tye Sheridan, Nicholas Hoult, Jurnee Smollett, and… Marc Maron in the cast, and we’ve heard some fantastic things about it.
Thank god Kurzel left Hollywood after Assassin’s Creed because we’ve gotten some fantastic movies from him — True History of the Kelly Gang, Nitram, and now this. Vertical dropped the first trailer for the film earlier on Thursday, and it looks thrilling.
Peep it:
In lieu of the official synopsis, here’s the blurb from the TIFF program:
“Featuring startling performances from Jude Law (‘Vox Lux,’ TIFF ʼ18; ‘Dom Hemingway,’ TIFF ʼ13), Tye Sheridan (‘The Forger,’ TIFF ’14), and Nicholas Hoult (TIFF ’22’s ‘The Menu’), this riveting historical thriller from director Justin Kurzel (‘Nitram’) and screenwriter Zach Baylin (‘King Richard’) recreates one of the largest manhunts in FBI history. Based on Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s nonfiction bestseller ‘The Silent Brotherhood,’ ‘The Order’ depicts a domestic terrorist group determined to promote their racist ideology — and the lawmen who will go to any lengths to stop them.
The year is 1983. A series of bank robberies and car heists plague the Pacific Northwest. Believing these crimes to be connected to a white supremacist organization, FBI Agent Husk (Law) undertakes an investigation with the aid of an eager young small-town deputy (Sheridan). Their search leads them to Robert Jay Mathews (Hoult), a charismatic cult leader recruiting a small army to raise funds for an armed revolution. As their paths bring them into ever-closer proximity, Husk and Mathews’ powerful convictions will ensure only one of them will emerge from their inevitable confrontation.
Distinguished by gorgeous pastoral landscapes and a brooding score, ‘The Order’ cultivates an atmosphere of dread and intrigue. But the film’s greatest asset lies in its main character, a veteran agent whose obsessiveness is fuelled by alcohol and estrangement from his family. Law (also at the Festival with ‘Eden’) has never been more unnervingly compelling. At the heart of his performance lies a fascination with a persistent darkness hiding in our culture — one that threatens to consume those dedicated to dragging it out of the shadows.“
The Order hits theaters on December 6.