Beyond Borders

R

Released Oct 24, 2003

2 hr. 7 min.

Drama

Adventure

Romance

War

List

14%

103 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

An American socialite (Angelina Jolie) living in London joins a renegade doctor's (Clive Owen) humanitarian efforts in war-torn nations.

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Critics Consensus

Beyond Borders is good-intentioned, but the use of human suffering as a backdrop for a romance comes across as sanctimonious and exploitative.

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Audience Member

Why can't you have a love story out of famine, starvation and suffering. This happens all the time. This is a moving love story born out of both characters' passion to help people.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

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Audience Member

ich bin zutiefst gerührt...... Angie spielte Protagonistin sehr gut.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Audience Member

We have loved this film since 2004. Well acted, great fleshing out of the characters, Very moving, realistic, a call to action. Even the romantic parts that others don't appreciate, I completely understand in light of Jolie's personal life, and since I a person who has been in traumatic situations, I know how finding a person who shares your passions and energy is so compelling.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Audience Member

The movie was a little too political for me, but it was still able to capture the evolving love story between the two leads. Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen had incredible chemistry that hooked me. All in all, the movie was good.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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matthew d

Beyond Borders is astonishing in how atrocious it's written. Martin Campbell's Beyond Borders (2003) is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It pairs the unreal suffering within Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya as a quaint backdrop to a contrived and ridiculous romance plot that makes The Notebook look like Blue Valentine. Beyond Borders pretends to have goodwill towards Doctors Without Borders, but just exploits their hard work just to make privileged people feel better. Beyond Borders is just a disgusting cash grab attempting to provide a look into the mass death and poverty of the most disenfranchised places on Earth. It's such a clear hollow sentiment as all the charity is forgotten halfway as it turns into a gross romance. The entire idea of a woman with no experience and wealth going to places to help out in no way, shape, or form is stupid enough, but they accomplish nothing in Beyond Borders. To give you an idea of how awful this movie is, there is a scene where a key character dies who is a friend to both protagonists, and the very next scene they are having sex. It is just horrendous. Clive Owen is so self righteous it is nauseating. Angelina Jolie gives what would be a moving performance without the romance as we know she genuinely cares about these people. Beyond Borders is ironic in critiquing her character a just a rich white girl guilty for her privilege and feigning help to clear her conscious. Jolie has been accused of this Ad nauseam. The movie is nice, but feels so overly sentimental and romantic for a movie where you must endure starving children, sick people, and innocents getting gunned down. The entire romance plot, contrived writing, and premise for this movie is just so strange. Who thought that a movie wherein Angelina Jolie would trounce about the desert, jungle, and winter would be a fun or moving picture to watch? Beyond Borders is only 2 hours, but easily feels like 4. The time skips just leave out so much information. It's like they decided forget logic or reason and let's just do whatever. By the way, this is just a side note, but Angelina dons the ugliest bangs throughout this entire movie that are so distracting as they go all over the place. Only once she's soaked in the rain in Cambodia does she even look like herself. Was she super anorexic while filming Beyond Borders too as she looks terrible. I hate to harp on appearances, but her visage is alarming in Beyond Borders. At least, Noah Emmerich gives a nice performance as the kindly organizer in Ethiopia. I also liked the sleazy CIA operative played convincingly by Yorick van Wageningen. I will simply summarize Beyond Borders so that you do not have to see this terrible movie. For all their attempts at charity, Clive Owen and Angelina Jolie are hunted down by terrorists or something, then Jolie steps on an actual landmine and explodes. Owen goes back to her home to presumably confront her husband with the fact that his daughter is really Owen's. That's the real ending I swear. I was laughing out loud by the end of this film. I cannot believe it got greenlit, honestly.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Lame boring movie starring Angelina jolie and some random guy that I've seen before. I'll forget about this in 20 minutes.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/23/18

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Martin Campbell

Director

Angelina Jolie

Sarah Jordan

Clive Owen

Nick Callahan

Teri Polo

Charlotte Jordan

Linus Roache

Henry Bauford

Noah Emmerich

Elliott Hauser

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Important issues buried in soap opera silliness.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 14, 2010

Full Review

Empire Magazine

Rated: 2/5

Dec 30, 2006

Full Review

Tim Cogshell

Boxoffice Magazine

A silly movie made all the more silly by how much it wants not to be a silly movie.

Rated: 1.5/5

Oct 30, 2003

Full Review

Joel Siegel

Good Morning America

Angelina, here's something to remember next time: It's better to tell us one story that makes us feel than a thousand stories that make us numb.

Rated: C

Jan 5, 2018

Full Review

Mark Collette

Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

...brutally haunting images ... in a setting where sappy dialogue evaporates like water.

Rated: 1.5/4

Sep 20, 2004

Full Review

Pablo Villaça

Cinema em Cena

Se abordar os esforços humanitários ao redor do planeta é admirável, colocá-los em segundo plano para priorizar uma história de amor é mais do que frustrante; é imperdoável.

Rated: 2/5

Mar 17, 2004

Full Review

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Synopsis

An American socialite (Angelina Jolie) living in London joins a renegade doctor's (Clive Owen) humanitarian efforts in war-torn nations.

Director: Martin Campbell
Screenwriter: Caspian Tredwell-Owen
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Namibia Film Commission, Mandalay Pictures, Camelot Pictures, Paramount
Rating: R (War-Related Violence|Language)
Genre: Drama, Adventure, Romance, War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 24, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.4M
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, DTS, Surround
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)