I need the people who work on previews to do better because The East was actually a pretty excellent movie, and I would have happily paid money for it. I had no interest in watching it until it was no longer in theaters, and I read a critical analysis of The East. It wasn’t a thriller wearing issues as a veneer of seriousness for an ultimately empty agenda. It wasn’t excessively preachy or polarizing. As a bonus, there was a strong female lead character, a great supporting cast which includes Patricia Clarkson and the now consistently hot Alexander Skarsgard. In the past, I wanted him to go to the Marlene Dietrich School of Knowing Your Angles and Facing The Light because in the early stages of his career, he would not look his best, and he is blessed with a lot of good raw materials to work with. It appears that he has worked it out. There are two polarizing worlds at war, but is there a possibility of a middle ground-a way to change things in love instead of vengeance? The East is surprisingly imbued with positive emotion about accountability and how to live a respectful and loving life by honoring the inherent value of all life–including the people that oppose you. The East is also a left-leaning movie with lots of great Biblical imagery-baptisms, Eden and rabbinical allegories. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”-Luke 9:23. It also reminded me of a great visual mashup of contemporary society meets Pinkerton Detectives/Great Depression classic Dust Bowl movies.