Xchange (2000)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Allan Moyle

Writers:

Christopher Pelham (written by)
Léopold St-Pierre (additional writer)

Release Date:

20 May 2003 (Kuwait)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Out of Time. Out of Bodies.

Plot:

In the future, where it's faster to travel by exchanging bodies with someone at the destination, a man's body is hijacked by a ruthless terrorist.

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | Identity Swap | Futurism | Loud Sex | Business Manager

Cast

Stephen Baldwin	...	Clone #1 / Toffler 3
Pascale Bussières	...	Madeleine Renard
Kim Coates	...	Toffler / Fisk 2
Kyle MacLachlan	...	Fisk / Toffler 2 (as Kyle Maclachlan)
Tom Rack	...	Mr. Finerman
Arnold Pinnock	...	Dickerson
Charles Edwin Powell	...	Quayle Scott (as Charles Powell)
Judah Katz	...	Lister
Sean Devine	...	Rix
Janet Kidder	...	Alison De Waay
Larry Day	...	Walt Simons
Andreas Apergis	...	Chan
Lisa Bronwyn Moore	...	Glowacki 2
Jayne Heitmeyer	...	Proponia
Amy Sloan	...	Glowacki 1

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, violence and language.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:16 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Coolbrook Media

Goofs:

Continuity: When Toffler and Renard arrive at the hotel (to find Fisk) Toffler's timer shows "8:14 timer3" (8hours 14minutes). After being hit over the head and kidnapped Toffler wakes up in a warehouse near the harbour and the timer shows "0:31 timer1". They get away at "0:23 timer1", cross the bridge at "0:05:53 timer3" and transfer him back into his own body at "0:00:46 timer3". Apart from the change of the timer number, was he really unconscious for 7hours 43 minutes?

Quotes:

Fisk 2: [Fisk's mind is currently in Toffler's body] What are you going to do? Shoot you

Movie Connections:

References Black and White (1999/I)

Soundtrack:

Afrodiziak

Much better than its reputation

Don't listen to the other comments here. This is one science fiction movie that works. It manages to get all the things it's got going against it, work *for* it.

Take the male lead, for instance. Stephen Baldwin is not the sharpest knife in the drawer (and indeed, hasn't exactly starred in a lot of quality movies). So in this movie he's got no mind of his own. He's an assembly line clone, used as a host or worker body for the corporate jetset. That's putting a man of Stephen Baldwin's caliber to the best possible use!

The movie is about mind transfers. That's the plot, and the writer takes the utmost consequence of what this means. A plot that would be an insufferably silly stunt-of-the-week on an episode of Star Trek, Stargate or Farscape, manages here to be described disturbingly realistically and in a near-present day setting. Every possible twist that could possibly be imagined if this technology existed is commented on in one way or the other. No stone is left unturned. The sexual possibilities alone remain an important on-going sub-plot. This is highly unusual for a run-of-the-mill sci fi/action flick.

The SFX are fairly few, and integrated seamlessly and perfectly into the story. The one-molecule-thick cutting wire is really cool.

Like I said, it works. All of it. It is engaging, coherent, tasteful (all the four female main characters have topless scenes, and no, they are *not* gratuitous, but enhance the characterization), well-written, and goes out of its way to avoid clichés. For commercial flicks of any kind, this doesn't happen often. It's too bad the guy who wrote it hasn't done anything else.

I'm amazed to see that most of the commentators here have such a low opinion of this movie. Don't listen to them. This movie succeeds in everything it sets out to do. For a B movie, it is good. Surprisingly good. It will hold up for several viewings, if you're the type of person who can appreciate it. This is going to be a cult favorite.

8 out of 10.