In the early 1980s, veteran FBI agent Terry Husk takes a quieter job in the Pacific Northwest. He hopes for less stress after tough earlier cases. He soon spots a string of bank robberies, armored car heists, and bombings. These lead him to a small white supremacist group called The Order, led by Bob Mathews. The group commits crimes to raise money for a bigger plan to overthrow the government and start a race war.
The movie centers racial extremism because the villains follow real white supremacist ideas from the 1980s and use a book called The Turner Diaries as a guide for attacks and race war plans. The director has said the January 6 Capitol events inspired him to make the film to highlight the risks of far-right groups. A black actress plays a key FBI agent in a role that started as male in the script. Key creators have worked before on stories with social themes or black history and achievement. A normal viewer will see the racial hate as the main driver of the bad guys and some links to today’s divisions in interviews and coverage, but the film mostly plays as a straightforward historical crime thriller about agents chasing criminals. There are no big activist speeches or made-up identity hero stories.
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Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Order.
Woke representation / casting
Jurnee Smollett plays Joanne Carney, a composite FBI agent originally written as male. She serves as a competent supporting team member alongside the white male lead. This adds visible racial diversity to the law side in a historical story set in the mostly white Pacific Northwest. The film does not emphasize her identity as a plot driver or marketing hook.
37%
Woke political dialogue
Villains deliver historical supremacist talk and ideas from The Turner Diaries. The agents focus on investigation details, evidence, and stopping the crimes in standard procedural style. There are no modern activist speeches, identity sermons, or social-justice lectures from the protagonists.
10%
Identity-driven story themes
The core conflict comes from the villains’ explicit white supremacist goals of separatism and race war, drawn directly from real 1980s events and their guiding book. The narrative makes racial extremism the central threat. Director comments tie it to current far-right movements, so the racial and identity angle is noticeable to viewers even as a historical story.
48%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film shows far-right Christian Identity groups and how they draw in angry or isolated people. Law enforcement heroes have personal flaws such as obsession and family strain. It suggests ongoing U.S. divisions through context and filmmaker notes. It does not frame Western institutions, capitalism, patriarchy, or traditional norms as the root problem; the FBI and local police act as the ones stopping the terrorists.
38%
Woke character or canon changes
Joanne Carney is a composite based on real agents but adjusted to female and cast with a black actress. Real historical figures such as Bob Mathews, Richard Butler, and Alan Berg and the major events stay close to the source book. These are standard adaptation choices for composites rather than ideological rewrites of established characters or history.
22%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Reaction centers on the film’s craft, acting, and thriller pacing. Some discussion exists around the director’s January 6 comments and cautious distributor handling near elections. No major prominent campaigns or widespread complaints treating the title as woke, DEI, or left-wing propaganda appear in coverage or searches. Evidence here is thin.
10%
Creator track record context
Justin Kurzel framed the project around exposing far-right extremism after January 6. Zach Baylin has written prior films focused on black history and representation. Jude Law has backed progressive causes and produced this story. Other producers show little such pattern. The title fits ongoing themes in the key creatives’ work.
45%
Production
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