Xchange (2001)
Xchange (2001)
DVDRip | MKV | 688x384 | XviD @ 3500 Kbps | English AC3 5.1 @ 384 Kbps | 105 min | 1,46 Gb
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
DVDRip | MKV | 688x384 | XviD @ 3500 Kbps | English AC3 5.1 @ 384 Kbps | 105 min | 1,46 Gb
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Director: Allan Moyle
Writers: Christopher Pelham, Léopold St-Pierre (additional writer)
Stars: Stephen Baldwin, Pascale Bussières, Kim Coates
In the near future, a company called Xchange owns a mind transference technology that enables instantaneous travel by swapping bodies with someone at the destination. A member of the privileged corporate class ("Corpie") Xchanging for the first time unwittingly switches bodies with a terrorist. Forced to hide in a limited life span cloned body with just 2 days remaining, he races against time to stop the terrorist and regain his body.
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.
(click to enlarge)
Xchange (2001)
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