A series of bank heists with shockingly sinister intentions is the basis of The Order – a historical drama based on real-life events in a small Idaho town. Based on the 1989 non-fiction book, John Kurzel brings the story of a neo-Nazi organization and the lone cop trying to stop them to life in stunning fashion. Kurzel utilizes sweeping landscape shots to highlight the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, marking the stark contrast between the town’s natural beauty and the ugly secret it holds. Within the city limits lives a violent group of white supremacists who will stop at nothing to get what they want. Murder. Theft. You name it, they’ll do it.

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Nicholas Hoult rounds out a banger of a year with his role as Bob Mathews, a “family man” who spreads his seed across the community to populate the area with little white children. A pregnant wife at home, an expectant mistress on the side… Mathews is apparently a busy man. But his broader goal is even more heinous, and there is no shortage of men and women faithfully following his Jim Jones-esque style of leadership.

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Agent Terry Husk (Jude Law), a career cop worn down by years on the job, is tasked at solving a series of violent bank heists. Husk has a hard outer shell, and years of job-related trauma has done a number on him, both professionally and personally. Husk senses there’s much more than money motivating these crimes, and is joined by a rookie investigator named Jamie (Tye Sheridan) to connect the robberies to Mathews’ cult-like following. Jamie is a young father who hasn’t completely lost his soul to the job, though he admits he’s having a tough time not bringing his work home. Meanwhile Husk emits a strong sense of nihilism in everything he does, almost like he’s just going through the motions and knows one day Jamie will suffer the same fate.

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The Order is high on violence but surprisingly subdued, which brings home the realism of this true story. While it’s technically a drama, it could also be classified as a horror. What terror to think that people capable of such evil live among us in Anytown, USA. It’s not particularly exciting, and I wouldn’t recommend it to someone looking for a fun popcorn flick. Still, Law and Holt are hauntingly good in their respective roles, even if their characters are frustratingly underdeveloped. Fans of Waco-type true crime stories will be most enthralled by The Order’s dark chapter in American history.