Parents' Guide to The Order

A solid, finely acted police procedural, this crime story unfolds almost like a work of journalism, keeping hysteria and drama to a minimum but also allowing the characters a bit of room to breathe. Directed by Justin Kurzel, The Order is a slow-burn movie, spending equal time on the painstaking investigation—with its many dead ends—and on the hate group as they rise to power. Frighteningly, the Order is shown as a well-oiled machine, and Bob as unflappable, able to pull of any wild scheme with few repercussions. He makes robbing a Brink's armored truck look easy. (He's almost a little too perfect, to be honest.)

Meanwhile, the heroes are simmering with suppressed rage, especially Law's Terry, who's waiting for his family to join him, even though they likely never will. It's a strange dynamic, but one that makes sense. The heroes are more flawed, more human, more recognizable, and they always need to try a little harder. On the whole, however, The Order is a cautionary tale. It's set in the 1980s and based on a nonfiction book published in 1989, but it's even more scarily relevant in the 2020s. The book that inspires Bob's racist empire is still used, and was—according to the closing credits—consulted in the planning of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building. The Order is a reminder that unchecked hate can fester and poison not just communities, but entire nations.