XChange

You don't need a big budget to make a fantastic film.

Simply put: This is an entertaining and surprising movie with everything you could ask for - genuine suspense with believable plot twists, well-timed action, memorable comedy, and special effects that actually has a purpose beyond the "see-what-we-can-do" arrogance of many blockbuster productions.

I regularly contribute to IMDb's I Need To Know Board where many board favorites tend to be the memorable kitschy flicks. In the coming years - this will be one of them - I guarantee it. Not only is this a really fun movie to idle away a 'popcorn video night', it's filled with unique visual hooks and interesting plot twists that tend to find their way into the collected memories of film fans.

While others have noted similarities to other well-known films of the genre - I urge you to watch this with a fresh mindset (pun intended).

This is probably one of the best Stephen Baldwin films from his hodge-podge career. Had he chosen to do more along these lines I suspect his limelight wouldn't have gotten so dusty that he'd end up as a B-rated 'star' for reality TV schlock. Doing solid, low budget, but profitable films is a career track that had Edward Herrimann and C. Thomas Howell working for decades while their "will-only-work-for-great-scripts/directors" driven counterparts have been forgotten or relegated to the world of early retirement.

In the near future, corporate customers can save time on air travel by jumping into other bodies for short periods of time. Despite being unwilling, Toffler jumps into a body in order to attend a meeting in San Francisco. However, when it comes to returning to his old body he is told that his body has been stolen by the terrorist who had been in the body he jumped into. Toffler jumps into a clone in order to escape and, with a temporary body decomposing over 54 hours, he sets out to find Fisk and reclaim his body.

In the near future, body switching is possible for the rich, id badges tell everyone who you are, High Fidelity is playing at the cinema, but yet nobody has ever seen the film Face/Off. Yes - this is the future as seen in a low budget movie. Alarm bells rang for me when the credits revealed that this was, yes, a film who's main cast were Baldwin, MacLachlan and Coates! Happily though, it wasn't actually that bad, just rather unexciting and uninspiring. The plot has promise but it doesn't deliver it well enough. Face/Off had the same basic plot but it moved much quicker and slicker than this. The problem is that the plot feels too baggy and ill thought out with too much that isn't fully expanded on. This wouldn't be a major problem if the film moved slickly and with a lot of energy.

Sadly, it doesn't. The film has the odd exciting moment but generally it lacks tension and is a bit too slow and talky. Three times the film falls back on needless sex scenes in an attempt to give the audience what it came for. The conclusion of the film is obvious and, for that reason, lacks punch. It's a shame because, even with a low budget and less-than-perfect effects, the film could still have been exciting if the director had done a better job with the pacing of the film; as it is he delivers it too slowly.

The good ideas flicker up along the way - the best being near the end as Toffler's disregard for his cloned body becomes useful, but generally it is quite lacklustre. Even though the cast suggested worse, they were actually reasonably good. Coates is always watchable and, don't worry, after a brief spell as the good buy he soon changes to the bad guy role. MacLachlan seems to have taken the role just as a cameo and a chance to have a sex scene. Baldwin is slumming and it shows a bit too often. He is OK for the film but he didn't have that much in the way of charisma; sure he played more than one character, but he still wasn't all that hot.

Overall this is not as bad a film as I have maybe put across here. If you have rented it as a cheapy video or are watching it on a low rent cable station, then you probably know what's in store. As such, it works OK but it is still hard to overlook a plot that could have been tighter and a film that really needed a lot more in the way of tension and excitement to keep it going. Worth watching if you're in the mood.

I'm usually not into Sci-Fi, but I like a good thriller. This movie is both - and at the same time none of the above. I think the story would benefit if it was set in a twisted present instead of the "not so distant future". The movie makers haven't put enough effort into making you believe this is the future. That said, the story has a faint touch of Orwell (author of the unreal and brilliant novel "1984", written in 1948, from which the expression "Big Brother" originate).

The main idea of body switching opens up so many fascinating possibilities, and the movie barely scratches the surface. It leaves you thinking "what if..."

The story isn't the best written one in the world, in fact it's rather thin at times. The acting is average with a few exceptions. The presentation isn't in any way high tech or extremely impressive. Still I think it was a good movie. It's the story beyond the movie that makes it great for me.

Definitely worthwhile, if you like a weird story.

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.

actually - surprisingly good! xchange has an interesting story, very good in the details. it is overall well thought - as a set, story and 'futuristic society' elements. it does say 'made-for-tv' and 'low-budget' all over it, but it is un-deserved to treat it like a bad movie, in fact i'd say it overachieves, and this is mainly due to the story.

given better budget this could be a movie hit, alas all the sex scenes would've been cut then :)

it is a kind of surprising about these sex scenes, as they don't add anything to the story. actually they make this already low-budget movie seem like a high-budget erotic movie if you're really biased to look at things this way

anyway - as a sci-fi fan i enjoyed 'xchange', and thats all i have to say about that