Is Jude Law set for a career renaissance with new film The Order?

Jude Law is back — or so the critics say — after his new film The Order had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival and was met with huge praise and a 10-minute standing ovation.

The actor stars in the Neo-Nazi thriller as FBI agent Terry Husk, who begins investigating a series of bank robberies and car heists that he believes are being committed by domestic terrorists. His investigation puts him on a collision course with a white supremacist group led by the charismatic Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult).

With all eyes firmly on Law for his performance in the thriller, it feels like the great start of a career renaissance for the actor, but it begs the question: did the actor truly go anywhere?

Early success

There once was a time where Law was everywhere, much like Hugh Grant before him Law was the perfect fit for the rom-com lead and he thrived on this by starring in a number of big name films like Alfie, The Holiday, and Closer in his heyday.

Law also proved he had a flair for dramatic roles too, expertly leading movies like Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr Ripley at the height of his career. He has worked with many greats during his time too, including Martin Scorsese for The Aviator, Steven Spielberg for sci-fi film A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and with Sam Mendes in Road to Perdition.

Read more: Critics say Netflix's Ripley pales in comparison to 1999 Jude Law film

In the late nineties and early noughties it was more difficult not to see Law on the silver screen than it was to see him, but flash forward to 2024 and things are not quite the same.

His recent career

Law has had a slew of projects that either weren't well received or were simply too niche to engage with mainstream viewers in recent years. The latter category includes TV shows like The Young Pope, its sequel The New Pope, and The Third Day — which had a "theatrical event" that was live-streamed over a 12 hour period.

Some other projects the actor has done that've been heavily criticised include the Fantastic Beasts franchise, in which he plays Albus Dumbledore. He has appeared in the films since 2018, but each has been received more poorly than the last, and though there were initially plans for there to be five films after the release of 2022's The Secrets of Dumbledore reports emerged that the franchise was being quietly shelved.

Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword also proved a box office bomb, while Disney's remake of Peter Pan & Wendy was a straight to streaming release that did poorly with critics and viewers alike. Despite playing one of the most iconic fairytale villains around, Captain Hook, the role did more harm to Law's reputation than good.

The last project Law did that was a big deal was 2019's Captain Marvel where he played villain Yon-Rogg, a role he has reprised for Marvel's animated TV series What If...?

So why is the actor not as prevalent on the silver screen as he once was? There is an argument to be had that Law hasn't actually been gone, he's just not as in our faces as he once was.

A law unto himself

After decades of hard graft as a heartthrob of the silver screen Law has earned the right to not release as much now as he did before, arguably. But also it can equally be argued that he hasn't been seen to be as much of a box office draw as he once was.

Hollywood values youth above all else, prioritising projects on the young, hot talent of the moment rather than the stars of "yesteryear", though that's not to say actors like Law aren't able to prevail despite this.

Law has continued to work, but the release schedule for his films and shows have become a lot more spread out than it once was. In recent years the actor has been part of fewer projects, while in 2020 he had six projects in total be released, in 2021 he had none — likely a result of the Covid pandemic.

In 2022 the only movie he was part of was the aforementioned Fantastic Beasts sequel. 2023 was equally sparse in the actor's schedule, Peter Pan & Wendy was the only movie of his to be released.

That same year his Tudor drama Firebrand, in which he plays Henry VIII, only went around the festival circuit, and it is finally coming to UK cinemas on Friday, 6 September. Apart from that, in 2023 he voiced Yon-Rogg in an episode of What If...? so that's not much to write home about.

With heavyweight performances in worthy, talked-about films such as Firebrand and The Order primed for success it seems like Law is back on an upward trajectory, especially as the actor will also soon make his Star Wars debut through Disney+ series Skeleton Crew this year.

Law will also soon reprise his fan favourite role of Dr John Watson opposite Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes, in a third film in the movie franchise directed by Dexter Fletcher, and has exciting projects like TV mini-series Black Rabbit and film The Wizard of Kremlin to come. He is also back to working with acclaimed directors as he stars in Ron Howard's Eden, which premieres at TIFF on 7 September.

It may have been a few years since Law was seen on the silver screen, but with lots of buzz around his new films and a number of exciting projects in the pipeline it does seem like he will dominate the public's imagination once more. So it is likely that a career renaissance is on the cards.

Firebrand premieres in cinemas on Friday, 7 September, and The Order does not yet have a UK release date.