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.

THE EAST is an openly political film - in which a group of lefty liberals go after the evils of big business and corporations - but one which manages to make a few decent points along the way, namely the morals behind the use of evil to combat evil. It's not a very satisfying film, and it remains resolutely po-faced throughout, but it's worth a watch for anybody with a real-world interest in this stuff.Newcomer Brit Marling plays an undercover agent who joins a group of eco-terrorists in order to bring them down, but who finds herself being drawn into their schemes and lives. I found the actress to be entirely unsympathetic in the part, but others in support are better; a cast-against-type Alexander Skarsgard, for instance, alongside Toby Kebbell and Shiloh Fernandez. A shame we have the continually irritating Ellen Page along for the ride too, but there you go.Occasionally THE EAST becomes a pretty effective and tense thriller, and these moments occur when the eco-warriors actually get up and pull off some pretty impressive stunts. However, to counter such highs there's a whole lot of low-level emoting and sitting around chatting, and unfortunately the idealistic young characters just aren't very interesting to watch as a whole.

I didn't know Ridley Scott was on board before I watch this btw. But now you know - if that's important to you too.The East has nothing to do with East Asia but a group of radicals. The backdrop is little Davids against the Goliath of our corrupt to the core industry giants, set in contemporary every-men America. The theme is choosing side, heart or head. Overall, a story deserves to be told and a well-told story deserved to be experienced.This movie was made on an indie budget of $6.5 million by relative unknown writer director team (first time I watch anything by Brit Marling). Yet it definitely feels like a polished enough mainstream release. There is no typical art film fest overlong pregnant pauses and amateur 'we're so serious' posturing.The overall tone is naturalistic even punk-ish. The cinematography is done in great economy and taste but nothing stylistically-pretentious or distracting at all.Writing pacing is professional grade, subtle yet lethal, emotional and unsentimental, sleeker than 99% of Hollywood serious dramas out there. Definitely engaging throughout. 5 minutes in I breathe a sigh of relief as I know we're in nimble talented hands.The team of actors are well chosen. The acting/ directing result is intimate, natural and emotionally true. Brit Marling is definitely sincere as an actor, and confident enough to not demand that the camera worship/ molest her for a second too long. Ellen Page did her complex role totally justice. Alex Skarsgard delivered the emotional intensity physical presence his role calls for. Patricia Clarkson (6 feet Under/ Maze Runner) breathed life into a character type that's always in danger of caricature treatment.All in all, the beauties and intelligence of the cast have been brought forth in totally UNFORCED and CONCISE manner, which makes me curious about director Zal Batmanglij, at least his seamless collaboration with Brit Marling.I hope Brit Marling will continue to be this fearless and effective as a producer.This movie deserves more viewing. Highly recommended.

Patricia Clarkson has a role so small in this film, but like a tiny piece of Uranium has a massive impact.Here she is the head of the main character's company, a firm that supplies intelligence for corporations, infiltrating underground groups that act out against companies.In the course of this film, there is a sequence in which our heroine is present when a "monkey wrench" (called a jam) of sorts is about to happen and a large number of people are about to be badly treated. She then calls Clarkson with concerns about the event about to take place mere minutes (like nearly seconds), Clarkson has a response that is the essence of corporate evil.In this one, brief line, Clarkson nails Corporate Swine Person as well as if not better than Gary Cole in Office Space or Paul Reiser in Aliens.Overall the film is well made, well directed and has Ellen Page in it. (Anything with Ellen Page is worth watching at least once IMHO.) A good gripping thriller, well made and with an edge. 9/10