With many tentpole studio films, the reliance on big visual effects come at the cost of telling a strong story. And it’s a story that takes a film from a solid performer to something special. The script has been described “as one of the most uniquely imaginative scripts” and “not only thrilling; it is also loads of fun” and it’s leading character as “a complete and utterly fascinating protagonist” and “a GREAT role for any number of A list stars”. (see coverage notes for full details). With this kind of feedback, what is so special about The Order?

The Order takes two well established genres, sci fi and thriller, and combines them using compelling characters who tell a strong story. It’s accessible to the audience, telling the plight of a young agent trying to prove herself to her bosses, and then discovering that she has to defy them to prove that she is more than any of them. In the time honoured style of Avatar and Star Wars, it’s the rebels who the audience relate to, and The Order gives them a female protagonist that has to understand herself to beat the bad guys. And finally, the idea of a female lead in an action film is becoming more commonplace, but The Order treats its female lead as an individual, not like films such as Salt or Atomic Blonde, where the female lead fights and acts just like a male lead would.

The Order is a world of stark, contrasting difference. The Utopia is clean and clinical, somewhat devoid of emotional attachment. Life revolves around military and science, neither leaving much room for human variety, in a world that looks not so distant from our present. Built from concrete and surrounded by mountains and snow, the terrain is unforgiving and heartlessly cold. Mayfield is a different world entirely. The sunshines strong and bright, the colours are surreal and vivid. As a medieval society, it appears backward, most the buildings are wood, only the wealthy have stone. The roads are unpaved, the peasants dress in simple, sometimes shabby clothes, the Lords are resplendent in their finery. For Katherine, this difference at first disturbs her, their violence comes so easily. Yet once she gets to know the people, they may be a little more simple than her world, but there is a quality of human kindness lacking in her world. She is going to discover why...

The audience go on the journey with the characters, they need to be relatable yet different. In Katherine, we have a protagonist who is on a journey of discovery, about her place in her own world of the Utopia and then in the harsh reality that is the peasant lowlands. She has had a cold upbringing and seeing how Richard and Danielle relate is eye opening to her, softening her stance on her mission, to the point that she rebels and is willing to give it all up for this new, human ideal.

Danielle is innocence in the story. Trapped by her circumstances, she has a good heart, a kind person who just wants everyone to be happy. But her father's actions and Katherine's arrival will change her life forever. Her father Richard is a strict man, who thinks nothing of beating his daughter if she does something wrong, and in Danielle's existence, she thinks nothing of it either. Richard is determined to find his truths, but the cost will be too much for him.