The Order

A harrowing portrait of ideological extremists, The Order depicts fringe sociopolitical belief systems based on hateful rhetoric, violent persecution, and fear mongering without any attempt at persuasion, validity, compromise, or compassion.

While this gripping true-life crime thriller is set 40 years in the past, it simmers, perhaps unfortunately, with urgency and haunting contemporary relevance.

Within its fairly straightforward procedural framework and efficient period visuals, the film from Australian director Justin Kurzel (Macbeth) generates consistent intrigue along with some compelling twists.

It opens with FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law) arriving in northern Idaho to investigate a string of robberies throughout the Pacific Northwest, in small towns that double as havens for suspected hate groups.

The locals aren’t helpful, maybe because the intense Terry isn’t there to make friends. He’s not afraid to take some risks or step on some toes or snoop around where he’s clearly not welcome. “The only crime around here is catching trout with a license,” he hears from a small-town police chief (Philip Granger) who might as well be complicit.

After some dead-ends, a young deputy (Tye Sheridan) is more forthcoming about the case, pointing Terry to evidence tracing the heists to a burgeoning collective of conspiracy theorists and domestic terrorists. In other words, the perpetrators might be hiding in plain sight.

With the help of another cop (Jurnee Smollett), the duo tracks down Bob (Nicholas Hoult), a charismatic young counterfeiter and gun fetishist with a messianic complex who is recruiting acolytes for a large-scale neo-Nazi revolution — and isn’t afraid to sacrifice anyone in his way.

The taut screenplay by Zach Baylin (King Richard), based on a 1989 nonfiction book, intimately examines the delicate balance of power and trust that inevitably leads these types of far-right organizations to splinter apart.

The titular cult could be better defined and detailed outside of boilerplate white nationalist fanaticism with hints of anti-government and antisemitic doctrine, sham racial economics, grand political aspirations, and manipulated Christian theology. However, the indoctrination sequences are chilling.

Law explores layers of moral complexity with a powerful performance as an outsider whose determination spills over into reckless obsession.

Along the way, The Order suffers from some melodramatic contrivances, although you wish it was more exaggerated than it really is.

Rated R, 115 minutes.