The East
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: May 31, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 19, 2013
The East is a crackling thriller and a political statement tough to peg. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMay 22, 2013
The East is still a compelling portrait of what gets lost (and found) when a cause becomes an obsession. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonGuy LodgeJun 29, 2013
The film keeps its good-evil borders compellingly supple, at least until a wobbly finale that requires Sarah to act like the Hollywood heroine she has so strenuously avoided becoming. It’s a minor blot on a film otherwise propulsively alive with prickly politics. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyJun 15, 2013
Another Brit hit, plus Batmanglij is beginning to show dash as director. The duo make a tight fist of hot topicality and high tension from an ideas-packed genre piece. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 3, 2013
The magnetic Alexander Skarsgard is the leader, Benji, a soft-spoken dreamboat, ever-direct but with a haunted quality, with something in reserve. Ellen Page gives a Lili Taylor–worthy performance (high praise) as a suspicious, abrasive young woman. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirMay 30, 2013
It’s more that the filmmakers close out this oddly inspiring yarn of apocalypse and paranoia with a note of false reassurance. Yes, the world is fundamentally screwed and most people are apathetic or paralyzed. So start ringing doorbells! Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMay 30, 2013
As the cracklingly cool The East shows, they’re the real deal. It’s not easy to make a thriller where brains and guts are so clearly in cahoots. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMay 28, 2013
Eventually it’s go time, and if The East loses a little steam on the grounds of action mechanics (a skill these plots always require), it’s never dumb on the subject of covert allegiances. Read full review
80
Film.comJordan HoffmanApr 29, 2013
This is a movie that proposes a genuine, intelligent solution, both for the main character and for us. It comes at you kinda quickly (and economically, in about three wordless shots), but it hit me like a bag of dumpster-dived apples to the gut. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeApr 26, 2013
Batmanglij balances emotional tension with practical danger nicely, a must in a story whose activist protagonists can make no distinction between the personal and the political. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerJun 6, 2013
Marling has crafted a nicely taut, suspenseful cinematic journey into the world of corporate espionage. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 6, 2013
As usual, Marling is a pleasure to watch for the psychological complexity and contradictions of her character. This time, the story almost lives up to the performance. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 6, 2013
This is an effective genre piece. And Marling's quiet way of anchoring a scene is subtle enough to escape detection in almost any narrative circumstance. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigMay 30, 2013
Provocative, issue-oriented thrillers are in sadly short supply these days. But The East fills the bill with its examination of the intense commitment and anarchic impulses of eco-terrorist organizations. It's a fascinating subject on which to anchor a spy thriller. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 30, 2013
You leave The East with a hunger to know more and a good idea of where to look. For Marling and Batmanglij that counts as mission accomplished. For audiences, it’s that rare thing these days – a movie that matters. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. DowdMay 29, 2013
It’s best, perhaps, to just accept the movie on its dramatic terms, as a reasonably gripping thriller about the dangers of deep cover, anchored by a terrific actress on the brink of stardom. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMay 28, 2013
It’s too much a movie of “types,” and loses track of story elements that would seem important enough to warrant further exploration. The whole Christian conservative law-and-order mantle feels like a fuzzy afterthought on Jane, forgotten far too soon. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundMay 28, 2013
It showcases the evolving interests and talents of Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling, but expands them and channels them into a more traditional thriller framework. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnApr 26, 2013
As slickly paced as a big-studio espionage movie, it nearly succeeds as a pure adrenaline-rush thriller. In the end, the problem isn't that there's too much plot, but rather a certain dramatic illogic. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 13, 2013
It is a smart, well-acted drama, and another chance for Marling to exercise her unique talents, creating intriguing characters on the page and the screen. Read full review
70
NPRElla TaylorMay 31, 2013
The East makes for a passable thriller, as 1 percenters get theirs in satisfying, if incrementally implausible ways. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 30, 2013
For the most part, The East is a dizzying cat and mouse game with all sorts of moral implications. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 30, 2013
It may be asking too much of The East — which is, after all, a twisty, breathless genre film — to wish that it would frame the contradictions of contemporary capitalism more rigorously. The movie is aware that they exist, and wishes that they could be resolved more or less happily, which is hard to argue with, though also hard to believe. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangApr 26, 2013
This clever, involving spy drama builds to a terrific level of intrigue before losing some steam in its second half. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJun 13, 2013
The East never goes as deep undercover as it should. Read full review
67
The PlaylistCory EverettApr 26, 2013
The East is definitely a movie that's going to divide people but it'll be a conversation worth having. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyJul 3, 2013
Come the final act, the best political thrillers don't play nice, after all – they twist the knife. This one’s so concerned with making the world a better place, it retracts the blade and wipes it clean Read full review
60
The GuardianHenry BarnesJun 29, 2013
The East – a sleek thriller clogged by its noble message – heads south. It becomes sanctimonious, makes you contrary. I left craving a Big Mac. Read full review
60
EmpireKim NewmanJun 24, 2013
Well-acted and suspenseful, with a great deal of editorial content, this feels a little awkward and earnest, and perhaps not angry enough. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 14, 2013
Even if it doesn't provide all the answers, "The East" asks some pretty darn good questions. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonMay 28, 2013
For all its empathy and equilibrium, The East has nowhere to go after the script backs itself into a corner. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJun 12, 2013
The film looks good (nod to cinematographer Roman Vasyanov). The images are sharp even when the film’s ideas are not. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 11, 2013
The East prizes an initial air of mystery over consistent drama, and as a result ends up squandering its intriguing premise. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)James AdamsJun 6, 2013
Unfortunately, The East is not a very good movie, hobbled by an excess of plot, a lack of believability and big gaps of logic. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedMay 28, 2013
A good cast and the speed-dial theme of eco-terrorism should really add up to a film of more substantial mind over matter than the dull, talky and ultimately pointless espionage thriller The East. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithMay 30, 2013
Let’s say you wanted to have another go at “Red Dawn” but you think more like Redford. Voilà: You’d have The East, a cockamamie valentine to eco-terrorism. Read full review
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