Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE ORDER [Toronto Intl Film Festival 2024 - Toronto, Ontario]

FBI dramas depend on their subject and their investigator at the forefront. The key becomes making the good guy more interesting than the bad guy. With his characterization of Agent Terry Husk in “The Order” [Special Presentations/North American Premiere], Jude Law disappears into a role like he has not done in a while. American accent, mustache, hair…gruffness…it very much works where a viewer cannot recognize him until 20 minutes in (no credits at the beginning helps). Law upholds the film which follows a rash of bank robberies committed by a white supremelicost group led by Bob Matthews (Nicolas Hoult in another interesting role). Hoult doesn’t disappear as much as Law but his mechanics is what propel the plot while Law is more character based. There are some other interesting character actors. Jurnee Smollett works the best as a fellow FBI agent who can call Husk on his crap without either being overbearing, insensitive or grating while still being exceptionally strong. The person that seems not to flail but simply support the structure without any great result is Tye Sheridan who did a similar job on his last film with Sean Penn who even as a supporting character had a more showy role than his co-star. Here Sheridan tries his best but despite a specific scene he makes very little impact overall despite adequate acting. All the supporting people work well, giving the film a slightly “Mystic River” feel (probably helped by its period setting). The overall story is interesting and thankfully not in a series form. This works better as a feature because it doesn’t need to explain why everyone does what they do. It is just part of life. B+

By Tim Wassberg