Xchange
Xchange
R | 19 January 2001 (USA)
Xchange Trailers

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.

Reviews
The_Void

In this film, humans are able to jump from body to body by means of a new form of technology. Why? Transport. Yes, it's a new means of transport; you swap bodies with someone at your destination, thus allowing you to get there instantly. Sounds ridiculous, and I cant think of a single reason why anyone would want to engage in this transaction, thus rendering this idea stupid; but, well, it's only a film. The movie follows the story of a corporate class man that must get to a meeting in a different town, and the only way to get there in time is to 'x-change'. Conversely, our hero is dead against the idea of x-changing so he initially refuses to do it. However, his boss drives a hard bargain, and after thirty seconds of relentless convincing; our hero is on his way to another man's body so he can attend the meeting! However, things aren't going to be that simple or we'd be in for a rather boring ride, so he unwittingly x-changes bodies with a terrorist that refuses to give his body back! Obviously, body stealing is a crime and therefore our guy can't simply stay in the body he's in, so he has to x-change with a clone. Don't you just hate it when that happens? However, it gets worse as clones only have a life span of approximately two days, so our hero must now race against time to stop the terrorists, sleep with as many women as possible and get his old body back! However, things are never that simple.... nah, just kidding; that's pretty much it.Going back to the film's central premise...it really is stupid. Imagine if people were really able to 'body swap'; we'd never know who's who. I mean, what if your wife swapped bodies with Salma Hayek? Sure, you might THINK that would be good, but would it be really? ...Yeah, it probably would. Seriously though, it would be chaos; you'd soon get people abusing the privilege, and there'd be anarchy before you could say 'what a silly idea', due to all the terrorists swapping bodies with politicians and things like that. The actual idea of body swapping isn't that bad, but it should have been portrayed in a more feasible way. The film is also one of those very convenient ones, where whatever tools the characters need just magically appear to be there, and the film quickly becomes predictable because of this. It also doesn't fully capitalise on the central idea; it depicts a man in someone else's body, yet we hardly ever see the two on screen. If it had made more of a meal our hero 'seeing himself', the film would have been infinitely better. You can tell that the writers started to run out of ideas after a while too, as the final third is packed with sex that doesn't really serve any relevance to the plot at all.It's a shame that this film isn't better as the idea could have built a really good film. It is hindered instantly by low production values, and the tired script and lack of invention don't do it any favours either. I would recommend watching this only if it's on and you have nothing else to do. Otherwise; you can afford to live your whole life without ever seeing this film.

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sarastro7

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.

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venusabove

i watched this just the other night because it did sound like a good sci fi idea and although you might think the story sounds plausible u will also be critical with the special effects where in places it tends to alternate between good and bad. the cars for one thing are like ordinary!( i can override that u think!) but in the end u will be laughing at what is suppose to be a serious film but looks like an inside joke.. clearly the writer and directer have both a multiple personality disorder... sometimes the brains behind this film must have been sitting in a jar..verdict watch it once and find out

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Matt-513

This has to be possibly the worst film I have ever seen, and I didn't even watch all of it. I had to turn it off it was that bad. It has a bunch of nobody's in it who probably couldn't get a job acting a Daytime US soap they are that bad (and that's includes Stephen Baldwin). The special effects (if you can call them that), are laughable, and the storyline is just confusing with one person swapping minds with another like it's going out of fashion. Oh, and the plot is so thin and predictable it is cringeworthy. How it got anywhere near a score of 5.4 on here baffles me, and those people who gave it more than 2/10 obviously don't know what a good film is even if it smacked them over the head with a sledghammer!Get it?

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