BEYOND BORDERS — ** — Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen, Linus Roache, Noah Emmerich, Teri Polo, Yorick van Wageningen; in English, Swahili, Cambodian and Chechen; rated R (violence, profanity, gore, brief sex, vulgarity, drugs); see "Playing at local movie theaters" for theater listings.

As watchable as her performances can be when she's inspired, it's a difficult thing for an actor — any actor — to actually steal a movie out from under Angelina Jolie.

Yet Clive Owen accomplishes that little feat with such ease in "Beyond Borders" that you may start to wonder if he's not be the Next Big Thing. (The British actor's name has surfaced in reports about who will succeed Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.)

But this soggy, episodic drama doesn't really deserve either Owen or Jolie's performances. It's so full of cliches and pointless digressions that whatever it's trying to convey gets lost in a hurry.

Also, it's not even close to being the epic, sweeping romance — along the lines of "Gone With the Wind" or "Casablanca" — that it so obviously wants to be. (It's closer to those films' lame TV remakes/sequels.)

Jolie stars as Sarah Jordan, a woman who finds herself torn between family responsibilities and her conscience. She's married to Henry Bauford (Linus Roache), a gentle Englishman who encourages her humanitarian gestures. He even supports her when she decides to go to Ethiopia.

There, she finds just how far charitable efforts actually go. And she also renews her relationship with Nick Callahan (Owen), a doctor who's helping at the clinic and shelter. The two of them don't really get along: he believes she's there for the wrong reason, and his somewhat shady dealing troubles her. Yet, as they renew their relationship over the next few years — in different trouble spots around the globe — they discover a growing attraction.

The fact that this soap-ish material is fairly decent can be directly attributed to the stars, as well director Martin Campbell, better know for making action films ("The Mask of Zorro," the 007 adventure "GoldenEye"). And while it does briefly come to life in the action sequences, the film keeps trying to sell us on the too-convenient romance between Sarah and Nick, ignoring some considerably more promising themes.

To be fair to Jolie and Owen, they do have chemistry; it's just unfortunate that it's being explored in this confused mess.

"Beyond Borders" is rated R for violence (gunplay, explosive mayhem and violence against women), occasional use of strong sexual profanity, gore, a brief sex scene, crude talk (slang) and drug content (inoculations and use of anesthetics). Running time: 127 minutes.

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