East Bound And Down

Last week I saw a trailer for The East, a film opening today in selected theatres.  So far the reviews haven't been bad.



I know nothing about the film except what's in this trailer.  Well, I also know how films work.  In real life, corporations make products they sell to us, generally improving our lives. And terrorists plot to hurt or kill people, and are among the worst criminals in the world.  But not in movieland.

There is simply no way a big corporation can be the good guy here.  My guess is it will be discovered the corporation (or corporations) are, one way or another, killing people, or at least hurting them significantly.  Furthermore, they will know what they are doing and try to cover it up.

As far as the terrorists, these will be the well-meaning and idealistic type, if perhaps overzealous--maybe somewhere along the path they lost their way.

The most likely plot has the cops, or better, the corporation, trying to infiltrate the group and--a la Avatar (which itself was following a time-tested plot)--the infiltrator, gung-ho at first, will go native.

Other guesses:

In the second half of the film, one of the terrorists we've gotten to know will die.

There'll be a twist near the end. The head terrorists used to work for the corporation, or is related to the CEO, or, even better, is still working for it. Perhaps the whole thing was started by a corporation to get other corporations.

By the end, it will be understood the corporation needs to be brought to justice.

It's almost worth going to the film to find out if they wring any new variations from a stupid, tired concept.