Sofie (Sharon Stone) is a hard nosed right wing Phoenix reporter. Her brother Aaron (Billy Zane) is on the other side of the fence (literally). He goes missing while helping illegals cross the border. Sofie goes looking for him, utilizing dubious untrustworthy help along the way. She gets caught up in the underground world (again literally) of smuggling. At some point she comes to sympathize with the illegals, but the film really didn't drive that home until she gives a speech to a policeman.

As far as a crime/drama/thriller I didn't feel too thrilled, perhaps because they wanted to take a realistic approach as the film was inspired by true events. Sharon Stone's Botox appearance was distracting throughout. The Mexican police are stereotypical. It is a movie which appears to be designed to create sympathy for the poor immigrants, but falls short. Worthy of a Redbox rental, but don't keep it home for more than a day.

Parental Guide: F-bomb (2 languages with subtitles) rape, nudity (Sharon Stone)

It's a shame they didn't use "Border Run" from the start. A much better title, that would also leave you with a little surprise (probably) towards the end of the movie. As it is, this is supposed to be the vehicle for Sharon Stone and a lot of actors have achieved great things with low budget movies. Something I guess she was expecting too. But the theme of the movie was the big seller.

Controversial and not easy to chew, this movie tries to show how ridiculous the border situation is. But do we need a 90 minute to show us something we already know? You decide if that is necessary. You also have to judge the late in the game "twist" and if it really was necessary too. Whatever the case, the movie tries hard but kind of fails delivering (no pun intended).

A female American reporter (Sharon Stone) searches for her missing brother (Billy Zane) against the backdrop of violence and human smuggling across the United States / Mexico border.

The key to remember in this film is that, as is said twice, the issue of the border is "not that simple". Any political stand on the issue has to be very nuanced or probably uninformed. I am not going to even try to explain where the arguments on many sides of the issue go wrong, as that is a book in itself.

And that is how I have to frame this film. I feel like it generally has a sympathetic view towards illegal immigration. And, indeed, there is reason to feel that way -- if my life could be substantially improved by crossing an imaginary line, I would probably consider doing it, too. But that ignores the importance of a strong border: keeping threats out and formalizing the citizenship process.

Yet, if the point of the film was to spark debate, I suppose it may succeed there. Immigration and border control is not an all or nothing issue, and there is much worthy of debate in these topics. Are we morally obligated to help improve people's lives? Or perhaps we are more obligated to ensure a strong homeland defense?

Sadly, Billy Zane (6-foot-2-inches of pure bad-butt) has far too little screen time and Sharon Stone is well past her acting prime. She was not a strong lead, and whoever decided to give her that terrible hair just made her more distracting than necessary.