The East (2013)

By CinemaSerf

Probably inspired by a swathe of similarly themed movies, this is a fairly run of the mill drama about a stereotypically off-beat group determined to bring down a corporation that treats the local ecology with scent regard. Brit Marling - who has involvement on both sides of the camera - is "Sarah" an agent tasked with infiltrating this group. The more she mixes with them, understands them and their views and priorities, the more she begins to feel emotionally and professionally compromised - especially as there appears ample evidence that at least one of their target organisations is as guilty as sin. The supporting cast are adequate - Toby Kebbell and Alexander Skarsgård chip in well, but for the most part this is really pretty dull. Marling fails to inspire as does the incredibly simplistic writing and though there is a degree of vindication towards the end; the whole thing lacked characters about whom I really cared and at just short of two hours I was a bit bored. A worthy topic doesn't necessarily make for a worthy film and this needed way much more creative effort than is offered up here.