Review of The Order

midlandsmovies • January 4, 2025

The Order (2024) Dir. Justin Kurzel


Coming off movies about Ned Kelly and mass murderer Martin Bryant (our review of Nitram here), director Justin Kurzel shifts his focus from Australian history to a dark topic in America’s past with his new crime film exploring racism and violence.


Based on non-fiction book The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, The Order sees a group of white supremacists undertake robberies and crime to forward their twisted goals.


Their leader Bob Matthews (Nicholas Hoult) feels the local Ayran Nation group isn’t doing enough to achieve change and recruits a number of equally twisted men with similar extreme views to his own.


Hot on his trail is FBI Agent Terry Husk (Jude Law) who’s looking for a more relaxed life, but whose hot-head rough style continues to bubble to the surface as he’s thrust into the chase.


The film’s heists are brief versions of those in Michael Mann’s Heat and they add intense and exciting sequences, whilst also being sandwiched between Hoult’s speeches to his “soldiers” and scenes of his fractured and complicated home life.


Law’s aggressive behaviour is amplified when paired with Tyler Sheridan’s reserved local officer in a nice character contrast of the two different approaches to these criminal investigations. And Jurnee Smollett as a senior FBI agent enlivens proceedings every time she’s on screen. Which, to be fair, is all too brief.


But in addition to the well structured narrative, an intriguing story and the cat-and-mouse antics of the criminals and coppers, the real highlight is the simple pleasure of two fantastic leads.


Off the back of his turn as Henry VIII in Firebrand, Law is entering a fascinating renaissance, dropping his admittedly pretty boy-ish charm to delve into more complex, rugged and tortured characters with much success. Here he’s a glorious trouble-maker but one with ultimately honourable intentions, yet it's these fiery ambitions which lead to eventual tragic consequences.


Hoult meanwhile is on his own impressive run. Just this month with have him in this and Nosferatu as well as a home release of his strong role in Clint Eastwood's Juror #2 - and even a welcome appearance in the latest Superman trailer. Boy is busy!


In the end, Law’s law-man and Hoult’s bigoted blow-hard show that both actors are the real standouts here. They provide the necessary depth - plus impressively flawless American accents - to a story whose important themes and subject matter sadly still resonate in today’s America.


★★★★


4 / 5


Michael Sales


X @midlandsmovies

By midlandsmovies April 26, 2025
Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer  Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/
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