The Movie Diorama As time presses on, humanity is typically viewed as the catalyst for the planet's destruction. Whether it be ravaging environments or destroying each other, it's a message that is at the forefront of many films. Some more subtle than others, it's a shame that The East settles for a more preachy method. A young operative is tasked with infiltrating an anarchist activist group where she soon starts to view their radical perspective as idealism as opposed to terrorism. The concept was there. The message was sound. Its purpose was accepted. It wants to be a thriller that makes you think, makes you ponder in self-enlightenment as you question your own actions against the environment. Elevating the dominance of anarchy in a libertarian society, it does make for an enthralling thought bubble. It's just unfortunate that the bubble pops halfway through the film. Batmanglij and Marling choose to focus on the humanity of these characters, the idea of external factors influencing your own perspective of a particular viewpoint. This is where the screenplay shines and really opens up to some intriguing premises. The first act was extremely promising, carefully constructing thrilling tension with hints of the spy sub-genre seeping through. Marling, Skarsgård, Page and Kebbell all portray believable characters that naturally suited the ecologist organisation they were running. We then get to a certain point in the film, the second jam to be precise, and the script shifts from what was a taut thriller into a preachy mess. "You are polluting our water", "corporate greed has corrupted society" or even "spy on us and we'll spy on you". Shoving these clumsy lines of dialogue in my face was not the way to go, and from there Batmanglij loses all sense of direction. The third act gets lost and becomes contrived, concluding in a very anti-climactic way. All the elements were there, and for half of the film they were executed with deftness. It just concedes in on itself and goes so far east that it went passed China.

Thoughtnot It is difficult to review such a movie without spoilers, but I shall try. Terrorism is always terrorism. There is no excuse for it. This is a silly, pretentious movie that tries to justify anarchy and not in an interesting way. Of course pharmaceutical companies shouldn't be poisoning people, but poisoning them back solves nothing. The acting is not bad. The writing and direction are feeble.The characters are unbelievable and totally one-dimensional---either all good or all bad. Not all young people are saints. Not all middle-aged people are evil polluters. Not all policemen are corporate lackeys. Let's face it, it has all been said before and in more interesting ways. The action is slow- moving and uninteresting. Watch something else.

Dennis Laursen The East seems to be a very interesting political thriller. But I was disappointed. The East is rather a boring and long-winded thriller. The plot progress quite slow, and there is not really a feeling of culmination for the group (The East) we are following. We are following a FBI agent, who is infiltrating this environment activist group, The East. And already in the beginning of the movie, we learn that the reason the female FBI-agent have to infiltrate the group, is quite stupid. She is not really a FBI-agent. More like, well, you will se in the movie...And the ending, well, it offers a quite dull plot-twist, and it is a quite a anti-climax.And of course we have to see the generic kiss-hug-and-sex-scenes for the I don't know gazillion time, which we have seen in numerous Hollywood-movies before. The only new here, is a couple of gay-kisses.

JohnnyPHreak I think I heard or read about The East before I even know who indie darling Brit Marling was. The ads for the film weren't that appealing to me. It seemed like a thriller with a few names that interested me (Ellen Page & Alexander Skarsgård). It wasn't until I read some reviews of the film and my friends were talking about it that it piqued my interest. By then I knew who Brit Marling was. I had not seen anything she was in. From word of mouth I needed to see her films. She was a writer/actress so the films were tailored to her. I had The East sitting in my DVR for over a month. I finally decided to sit down and make my first venture into Brit Marling land. Marling stars a corporate spy who is trying to make her way into a prominent Eco-terrorist group. She is there for information and intel to help her security company help their big name clients. Once in the group her world view is change. Being the lead and the writer on the film, she can play to her strengths. But thankfully she has many of them. She stands out as an actress with some serious chops. The evolution her character goes through is fascinating. At many times in the film I wasn't sure who to root for. I didn't know what was coming next. That, for me, is the sign of good writing and even better acting. Ellen Page is great as the group's second in command. I just wish she had more screen time. But the time she does she kills it in spades. Her character is a lot more complexed than first shown. That complexity is flesh out in some powerful scenes. Alexander Skarsgård has been a favorite of mine since True Blood. I think this is best performance yet. He gets to show some range and depth as the leader of the group. Even his character's history is explained. The one thing that stands out in this film is that the filmmakers let you get to know these characters. At first you may be hesitant to what they're doing. The film doesn't push you in one way or another. There are really no good guys and bad guys. Everyone does things out of necessities and to preserve what they think is their way of life. With such a strong hot button subject matter it's a great turn the filmmakers took. It pays off because I felt for everyone at some point in the film. The only issues I had was there was character in the group who was deaf who had some great early scenes. I would have liked to see more of her but she wasn't integral to the story. The East didn't surprise me as much as I'm just impressed that a dramatic thriller can be made now a days without pushing the audience to one side or another. The film is excellently directed. During my viewing I thought it felt like a Scott brothers film. And come to find out during the credits Ridley & Tony Scott were producers on it. I would say that my first venture into Brit Marling land was a successful one. 6.8 out of 10