Jude Law is good at playing men who see little reason to question themselves. We rate the vanity and stubbornness he finds in doctors and investigators, though a character written as an obvious villain gives him less to do.
Fi1m perspective
In The Order (2024), Jude Law’s Terry Husk is slow to speak and prickly about accepting help. Justin Kurzel has given him a familiar FBI veteran, and Law does not try to disguise that familiarity with extra business. His scenes in a car with Tye Sheridan’s more open deputy, Jamie Bowen, are the warmest in the film. We believe in Husk most when he has someone to resist.
International notice came with The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), followed by another Anthony Minghella collaboration in Cold Mountain (2003). His early casting carried the risk of being valued chiefly for his looks, but he has moved between franchise roles, smaller leads and ensemble parts. The later thrillers give us good reason to watch the difficult men he plays, even when the films around them are uneven.
Steven Soderbergh puts that self-regard to good use in Side Effects (2013), where Law plays Jonathan Banks, a doctor who assumes he is doing right. There is enough vanity in the performance to make that assumption questionable without making him a ready-made villain. Production designer Howard Cummings surrounds Banks with pale wood and glass, an office that suits his comfortable view of himself. Law makes the professional confidence credible, which matters when the plot becomes less convincing.
Contagion (2011), also directed by Soderbergh, gives him less room. His blogger Alan Krumwiede is marked as the villain from his first line, and the writing allows no real doubt about how we should take him. It is a stronger film than Side Effects, but a less rewarding part for Law. He is better served when we have to consider why someone else might trust his character.
That is what makes his Jake Friedken worth following in the series Black Rabbit (2025), opposite Jason Bateman as his brother Vince. We cared more than we expected because Law made Jake’s repeated allowances for Vince believable, even when we wanted him to stop. The brothers’ attachment holds through writing that keeps returning to the same mistakes, though the performances cannot make eight episodes feel necessary. There is enough between the actors to justify trying it. For a firmer evening’s viewing, start with The Order.
Biography
David Jude Heyworth Law is an English actor. He began his career in British theatre before appearing in television productions and feature films.
Law gained international recognition for his role in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and received an Academy Award nomination. He has appeared in films including A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Cold Mountain (2003), Contagion (2011), Side Effects (2013), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Captain Marvel (2019) and The Order (2024), on which he also served as producer. On television he has played roles in The Young Pope (2016) and Black Rabbit (2025).
Law has performed in West End and Broadway productions including Les Parents Terribles (1994) and Hamlet (2010).
