In 1983, bank robberies and car hijacks popped up across the Northwest , which includes the states of Idaho, Washington and Montana. In the belief that these crimes might be connected to the white supremist group The Aryan Nation, a group of Neo Nazis, FBI Agent Husk played by Jude Law, undertakes the investigations with young, eager Deputy Bowen played by Tye Sheridan. As the investigation continues, the audience follows the personal lives of Husk, Deputy Bowen and the antagonist, Mathews played by Nicholas Hoult as this investigation takes darker and darker turns.
CGI/Practical Effects: 8/10
Very little CGI was used in this film. Most of the movie was practical effects like shooting guns, fake blood and bullet wounds, etc. Whatever CGI was used was convincing. Although there was one thing that I noticed that bugged me a little. The audience sees Bob Mathews target practice with his toddler son. The gun the two were using was some kind of military grade automatic rifle and the toddler shot it like it was a nerf gun. Now, I’m not someone who knows a lot about guns; I haven’t even shot one before. But from common sense and having a dad who used to shoot guns in the past, I know that even a hand held weapon would have sent that kid flying into the dirt, let alone a military grade automatic rifle. Besides that, everything else was amazing.
The Story: 10/10
Not only was this story amazing, it was based on actual history. The audience likes the characters that they are supposed to like, the audience hates the characters they are supposed to hate, and the audience feels the shock when they see someone get blasted in the chest by a shotgun or turned into swiss cheese by a machine gun. The audience feels bad when they learn more about the characters’ personal lives, except Bob Mathews. This film feels like fiction, but it actually happened. Despite being filmed in Calgary, the film feels like it was filmed on location.
Action: 10/10
This film has the perfect balance of both action and non action. The action scenes are great, the audience feels the anger and urgency in Agent Husk and every fight is enjoyable to watch. During scenes where there is no action, the audience still enjoys it because it pertains to the main focus of the story, the investigation. Even when the audience sees a character’s personal life, it’s actually enjoyable and isn’t its own separate plot. For example, during an interrogation, Agent Husk uses his body to compress the accused criminal against the prison bars to almost literally squeeze the info out of him. Agent Husk also shows pictures of a dead body of a victim of The Order. But then there are scenes where the audience sees Agent Husk go out into the wilderness to hunt, find a big bull elk, but instead of shooting it, he just watches it.
Music: 10/10
The music for this film is fantastic and truly makes the audience get more into the film even more. Most of the time the film is silent, but whenever there is music, it’s usually in scenic scenes, like with jagged mountain peaks and large swaths of forest. This area has massive sharp mountains and an almost uncountable amount of trees. For those who have played the game “Far Cry 5”, this film has similar almost identical music. The music both for the game Far Cry 5 and The Order are described as having a “Gospel-style music” which perfectly fits this film.
Local Significance “Spoilers”
Although this film mainly takes place in the Northwest, a minor part does take place in Denver Colorado. Alan Burg played by Marc Maron, was a radio host on the KOA radio station in Denver, Colorado. In the film he debates with anti semitic people, racists and more hateful groups and protests nonviolence and nondiscrimination amongst different groups of people. At about 9:30 p.m. on June 18, 1984, Berg stepped out of his Volkswagen Beetle and was shot 12 times by a member of The Order, five of which were shot into and through his head. I would like to dedicate this review to him and the other men and women who died at the hands of The Order.
Final Score: 38/40
This film is one of the best I’ve seen that came out in 2024 next to “Heretic” written and directed by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods and “Nosfurato” directed by Robbert Eggers. Again this movie is super enjoyable to watch. If I had watched this in a movie theater, I would be disappointed if I had to use the bathroom because I would not want to miss a second of this film. My only complaint was when the toddler shot that rifle, but besides that, this movie is amazing to watch.
