Good Accents Don't Break the Jaded Cop Mold in 'The Order'

It wasn't that long ago that you could easily imagine Jude Law playing a charismatic cult leader, encouraging young men and their families to sacrifice themselves at the altar of his character's dark aspirations. In his new film The Order, Law is instead checking off a staple role for maturing actors: the jaded cop. In the new crime drama, he plays FBI agent Terry Husk, while Nicholas Hoult plays white supremacist Bob Matthews. It's a rite of passage for British actors to play racist Americans; both Law and Hoult manage to keep their accents neutral, but the occasional Southern drawl does pop up despite being in the northwest.

Based on a true story documented in 1989's The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, The Order focuses on Terry's pursuit of Bob after he moves to a remote Pacific Northwest town in the 1980s. When Terry arrives in town, Bob has already separated from the mainstream white supremacists in town to head up his own more radical faction. You can't blame either actor for slipping into the Southern accent; it must be hard to have an entire movie of racist propaganda without a little bit of twang in there.

As is standard, Terry's last case was traumatic and left him with scars – both emotional and physical – and this new post is supposed to be a chance at a slower life. He says he will bring the wife and kids out to join him, but it's clear his obsession with his work has driven a permanent wedge between him and his family. Before he even reads his first police report at the new job, he's introduced as all jaded cops tend to be in these gritty crime movies. Then he goes hunting but can't bring himself to shoot because he's tortured. (He's seen things. He's broken. Etc.) He's frustrated by the system and tends to play the lone wolf, much to the chagrin of his FBI colleague, Joanne Carney (Jurnee Smollett).