Beyond Borders

Forget curve-clinging body suits, CGI villains, and video game plot lines; U.N. relief workers in love are the future of Hollywood. Yes, Beyond Borders boasts Angelina Jolie and an R rating. No, it doesn’t boast her in any revealing outfits or sex scenes. Instead, she plays Sarah Jordan, a meek American newlywed living in London who has a knee-jerk reaction—inspired by rebel-without-a-shave Dr. Nick Callahan (Clive Owen)—to start helping the disadvantaged of war-torn-the-fuck-up Earth. Instead of dropping pennies in a UNICEF jar, she follows the clench-jawed doctor out to Africa…then Cambodia…then, much later, Chechnya and is repeatedly shocked to see that not everybody has perfectly luscious lips. The R rating allows Borders to starkly depict these bleak situations, but the botulismic babies, helpless parents, and corrupt government officials have all the collective potency of a Sally Struther’s infomercial. As the running time crawls over two hours, the teary-eyed mission statements that give way to mindless war zone combat erode any last semblance of interest. Add to that the budding romance between Jordan and Callahan, and you’re going to need more than a trip oversees to erase these chilling images from your mind.