Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

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.

skeptic skeptical Well, I rather liked The East. It was not boring, and although it definitely had an ax to grind and was strongly slanted in favor of activism and against corporatism, at least it attempted not to serve as a "spiritual adviser" to terrorist groups, so hopefully the director will not be taken out by Predator drone.There was an obvious effort here not to "drink the koolaid" while calling out corporate greed and, more specifically, the evil and profoundly mercenary private security companies made possible by Dick Cheney's LOGCAP. So the group, which did in fact dose the spy with some sort of drug (LSD?), is not really glorified, and their hypocritical and self-defeating tactics are criticized quite clearly. I would say that the film succeeds in shedding some light on radical activist groups, but it is misleading to suggest that the one examined here matches the profile of "anarchists". These young people seem more like disenchanted and to some extent discarded outsiders than moral crusaders. They strike me as the very same types of people who were lured into Charles Manson's murderous cult some decades back. We learn at the very end of the film, in a super-rushed five-minute riff, that the main protagonist has found her own way. She seeks out private contractors and converts them to the point where they find legal ways to expose their employers' clients. Truly a film which believes in justice and truth Big Time (as Cheney himself would say), but also that one can come to "see the light" while being guided by someone who is partially blind--at least to the errors of his own ways.

maryhayden I watched this movie because Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard are among my favorite actors and I enjoyed both in other things I have seen them in. I had never heard of Brit Marling or Shiloh Fernandez before. After watching this movie I will add both to my favorite actors list and will seek out other projects they're in. Aldis Hodge had a smaller role than those I've mentioned above but I found his character fascinating and will look for more of his work as well. The acting, even in the smaller roles, was good to excellent. The soundtrack was perfectly selected and added to the feel of the movie.This movie has a plot that was a bit cliché but still quite engaging and the topic was relevant. It was thought provoking and in fact the movie has stuck with me in the two months since I watched it. It had enough unexpected twists to keep me engaged particularly the death of Ellen Page's character Izzie. The tension in her death scene was overwhelming in a great way and is one of the most memorable scenes in any movie I've ever watched. I do wish that the burgeoning attraction between Marling's and Skarsgard's characters had been made just a bit clearer. However, the love scene between the two was by far the best I have ever seen partly because it was devoid of any shots that could be considered even R rated. This scene was masterfully acted and directed.

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