Rating: 
Summary: A lot better than I expected
Review: I was expecting the worst when it came to this movie. I am a fan of Angelina Jolie, but it didn't do very well at the box office and I didn't really hear anything about it. Well, none of that matters because this is a very good movie. Angelina does a good job here, as does Clive Owen, her love interest. The story was interesting and eye-opening. It kept my attention even though this isn't a lightning-paced movie. I wanted to know what would happen to Angelina's character. I was also surprised by a few twists that happen unexpectedly. There's a key scene midway through the movie that doesn't mean a lot at the time, but perfectly foreshadows something that happens later on. I highly recommend this movie. It was very entertaining and it really did make you think. I'm not a big fan of movies like this, but this is an exception. It should have been a bigger hit.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 & 1/2 Stars - Beautiful & Ugly all the while Unforgiving
Review: I watched "Beyond Borders" last night, and while the other people I watched it with were beyond bored, I was infatuated. The film, while being a bit "preachy," (nothing anyone would be overly annoyed with) is visually intoxicating. Sometimes in a surreal way other times in a horrific way, but intoxicating no less. Angelina Jolie shines in her role as Sarah, an American whose life changes drastically throughout the years of her adult life with her experiences with refugee camps she visits. Clive Owens plays Nick, a struggling refugee doctor with the best of inentions, but has become cynical and often bitter towards others, but not without good reason. Together they reach an understanding of one another, and eventually find love. But as much as the studio promotes this as a "Love Story" it is NOT that in the least. (I repeat this is NOT a love story.) It is bulked up by some hollywood explosions and such. However in whole this is a film about HEROISM in it's many forms. This film will grab hold of your heart, it will tug, warm, tear, comfort and break it. I think everyone should watch it becuase it gives an honest and unforgiving look at worlds outside our own little box. I give it * * * 1/2 for being a great film, but dragging on a little at times.
Rating:
Summary: Angelina Jolie /"Sarah Jordan" as one.
Review: I'm still reading Angelina Jolie's, "Notes from My Travels" a non-fiction book written by Jolie based on her recent travels (as real life Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) to numerous refugee areas around the globe.
Having read only the beginning of Jolie's book (and then seeing "Beyond Borders") I'm seeing qualities from her book, portrayed on screen - her passion for the aid and care of refugees.
The film is more of a tragic love story on how far one woman will go, for love. The risks and sacrifices they make doing their everyday humanitarian work and for the love of each other.
Some of the scenes felt choppy and didn't really flow - scenes between her life at home (in London) as wife and mother and the scenes when she did her UN work (around the world). Overall, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to expose to people, what has happened and what is happening around the world.
Rating: 
Summary: good premise, a great Clive Owen but why the love story?
Review: It's hard to pass up a movie when it's about trying to save starving and dying people in other countries and when the person is played with such a strong presence from Clive Owen (King Arthur, Closer and Gosford Park), you know its gonna be a good movie but putting a love story between him and a miscast Angelina Jolie (Shark Tale, Hackers and Taking Lives)...it doesn't add up. Also starring Teri Polo (Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers and Domestic Disturbance), Linus Roache (Hart's War, Wings Of The Dove and The Forgotten) and Noah Emmerich (Monument Ave., Miracle and Cellular). Yeah, so, good premise sqandered by love story with miscast Jolie but Owen still holds his own in a strong performance.
Rating:
Summary: Fan of Angelina's... talent?
Review: Let's separate BEYOND BORDERS from all the hoo-ha about Angie's (deservedly) celebrated UN work. Also, it's a relief to see her not being asked to wear spandex and kick ass. So often, when an actor (or any artist) scores with a particular type of role and establishes a personality, we ask them to repeat over and over.
Anyway, I though Jolie and her co-star, GOSFORD PARK's Clive Owen were both quite good, despite the two dimensionality of their roles. Owen: idealistic, noble, emotionally unavailable. Jolie: naive, well-intentioned, simpering. The movie itself falls into the old trap of portraying serious issues in light of how they affect good looking white liberals. The Ethiopia sequence is particularly galling, as Jolie's rescue of a (digitally animated?) baby is portrayed as a major victory in the war against famine. By the time we get to Chechnya, it's just an action movie. The scenes of Jolie at home never take off-- she apparently met the actor playing her husband (Linus Roache) ten minutes before shooting. BEYOND BORDERS is a perfectly entertaining afternoon at the movies, but a movie that seriously addressed the causes of world hunger is probably one most of us wouldn't watch.
Rating:
Summary: Movie is better than you think!
Review: Many reviewers bash the love story (as well as the morality of making the film), but I think the studio knew that Americans in general are into entertainment and don't want to see the real problems and death in the world. So to spark interest, a love story was created to bring people in and perhaps open their eyes to the problems out there (and to acquire some sort of funding).
The child and the mother, which look as bad as prisoners in death camps were digitally enhanced, so actually, no one was really sick in this film. (I was a bit disappointed with the digital paint on the child, though, but it made the point.)
Also, in the African (Ethiopian scene) and Thai (Cambodian scene) locations, the crews left behind running water and actual restrooms (compared to outhouses and well-water). The movie was shot on a limited budget and I think the cast and crew were as helpful to the native people of the locations as possible.
**SPOILER** As for the quality of the movie, I do think it kind of drifted towards the end, but you have to remember - this is the way life is. No local governments, terrorists or guerillas care for aid workers and they are being killed right as you're reading this. Sarah didn't expect or want to die - she didn't knowingly sacrifice herself, it was an accident, like in real life. She wanted her family together and to be with Nick. Refer to Pearl Harbor: the love story was magnificent, because life in war is volatile and unpredictable in this way, even though you end up angry at the woman.
The people that say that the UNHCR, UN and other charities don't work are the same people that hinder the help. You don't see them out there risking their lives. If no one believes in an organization, how is it going to work? It makes sense. Unfortunately, I think that the ignorance of humanity sometimes gets the best of all of us and we forget truly how lucky we are to be sitting in front of our computers typing away, thinking about what time to go to lunch...
but that's just my 2 cents.
Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT THIS FROM BESTDEALDVD SELLER
Review: MARK JOLLY SELLS BOOT;LEGS AND WRITES VULGAR EMAILS.
AVOID THIS SELLER AT ALL COSTS.
Rating:
Summary: Worldly and Depressing
Review: Movies are supposed to move you. However, Beyond Borders did not do that at all. It was like watching the evening news with a little romance added in. The romantic resonance that centered around Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen's characters appeared detached and incomplete as a result of the conflicting plotlines. There was too much going on, and it looked like the filmmakers were trying to make two films in one. If the movie was attempting to be another English Patient, but with late twentieth to twenty-first century issues, it failed. The most memorable aspect of the film was the attempt at presenting issues that have occurred or are occurring within the eastern borders both in the pacific and the baltic or in between. It had been unfortunate that the climax of the film ended with the loss of one of the major characters. However, it leaves you thinking why one of the lovers survived. There's no happy ending here.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Borders is riveting and will command your attention
Review: The casting of this movie is actually superb contrary to the opinions of other reviewers. No other actors aside from Jolie and Owen could have pulled this movie together becaue the plot needed to be credible. Despite Jolie's academy award for "Girl Interrupted", this movie required actors that had not yet necessarily earned their 'stripes' or made their debut. Although the movie does contain some digital effects (e.g., with some of the backdrops), it is very realistic. The 'Ethiopian' camp was real (e.g., not a model), the Chechen backdrop, although filmed in Montreal, was based on actual photographs of this war torn area, the extras were actual natives of the land...people that had and may continue to experience hunger, war, and tragedy themselves. Many of the extras were also amputees as a result of their stepping on land mines. Jolie herself provides credibility to the movie by the fact that she is currently a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR, a result of her studying for her role in this film. Jolie also insisted on learning to play difficult piano pieces herself for the beautiful piano scenes. Jolie "found" herself in this movie and it is extremely gratifying to watch her personal transformation as the movie progresses. Over the course of '11 years' that the movie spans, there are three scenes from which the movie takes place: Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya (minus England where 'Sarah', Jolie's character, resides with her husband). Having all three scenes in the movie makes it rather 'busy' but never boring. If anything, these scenes show us the lives of people who work in the relief business, and who may get tangled up in other affairs. The only complaint I have about the movie is the fact that the audience is never really informed as to how and why Owen ends up in war torn Chechnya after being in Cambodia. We are simply informed in a sort of round about way that he ends up in Chechnya because, aside from his relief work, he is now doing underground business for the CIA. Overall, unless I am mistaken, I am surprised that this movie wasn't as lauded with recognition as it should have been. If anything, your eyes will open from this movie because it involves a topic that is, unfortunately, very little addressed in Hollywood. If you at least become more familiar with UNHCR and their work, then the movie would have accomplished it's mission.
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable Romantic Movie
Review: The storyline of this movie certainly is not very original. It has probably been done in dozens of romance novels. That being said, however, I still found this film to be very entertaining. I must disagree with some of the other reviewers that said Ms Jolie was miscast. I thought she was very good, and the type of woman I could see the male lead falling in love with. Which brings me to Clive Owen who plays the doctor and main male character. He is wonderful in this movie. His acting is super, and he is very sexy, yet believable. I couldn't detect one false move. His performance is the highlight of this movie.
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