Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult lead thriller about the real FBI manhunt for a white supremacist leader

Forty years ago, on Dec. 8, 1984, one of the largest manhunts in FBI history came to an explosive end on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. The person they were after was Robert Jay Mathews, the leader of a white supremacist group committing armed robberies to finance plans to overthrow the government. The standoff lasted more than 30 hours.

It’s a dramatic episode in history that’s chronicled in the new film “The Order,” in theaters Friday, a 1970s-styled thriller starring Jude Law as an FBI agent who connects the dots of the violent crimes arising in the Pacific Northwest and Nicholas Hoult as the enigmatic Mathews. The group, responsible for the murder of Jewish radio talk show host Alan Berg, and that infamous showdown, also continues to resonate with some on the far right, who make pilgrimages to Whidbey Island this time of year for “Martyr’s Day.”

Neither the English stars nor the Australian director Justin Kurzel were familiar with the history of the group when they first read Zach Baylin’s script, based on Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s nonfiction book “The Silent Brotherhood.” But it felt full of potential for an entertaining, complex movie, with car chases, bank heists, shootouts and pathos.

“It just reminded me of the great old heist films from the '70s, with a Sidney Lumet, William Friedkin kind of feel about it,” Kurzel said. “Even though it’s a period film, it’s so incredibly present and sort of dangerously still relevant.”