Better than expected
Added 3/10/2006
For a made-for-cable looking science fiction movie it’s not half bad. The theme has a strong Philip K. Dick feel to it (Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report are based on his books). That theme is about technology and how it can affect people on a personal and social level, especially if the technology involves your identity. In that area X Change succeeds in doing something fresh and engaging compared to other movies of its ilk.
First let me say right off the bat when I call this a made-for-cable movie I mean it. The budget and cinematography show this in spades. As far as the future is concerned it pretty much looks the same as it does now. Only one futuristic car in streets full of average vehicles, furnishings and décor aren’t any different, even things like exercise equipment is the same. You will find a few nice futuristic techie toys though like a personal homing missile and that old cyberpunk weapon of choice: the monowire. Of course there are other little technology things there that move the story, but if it doesn’t carry the story in any way you won’t see it here.
In spite of the lack of sci-fi decorum X Change does have it where it counts, and that’s the story. It’s interesting how the whole switching of consciousness between bodies plays in this movie. Philip Dick would be proud. I like how it plays in society and how the movie really digs in the point on the dangers of such a technology. It’s interesting seeing the main character move from actor to actor and how each of the actors portrays him. I have to give credit to Billy Baldwin, Kim Coates and Kyle MacLachlan for their performances of not only the lead character, but also the other personalities they zap back and forth from.
There is a good deal nudity, sexual situations and to a lesser extent some graphic voilence so be mindful of that if you are going to watch this movie with the kids. Granted the production values make it look like a TV show and the parts of the story do fall into the HBO/Showtime derivative movie trap. But just behind that plastic exterior is an engaging story with some interesting plot twists. If plots like those from Minority Report or 6th Day interest you then give X Change a look.
4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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I WANT MY BODY BACK
Added 8/26/2004
Why does Stephen Baldwin get so much work in these straight to video movies? While certainly not an actor of Oscar-caliber, Baldwin has managed to parlay his laconic, at times stupefying presence, into the good guy that women want to cuddle and tell him everything's going to be all right. I've enjoyed many of his movies (particularly Dead Awake and Fall Time), and in this one, he delivers another of his staid, almost robotic performances, and it works.
Kyle McLachlan, on the other hand, seems disinterested in his role, and Kim Coates is effective in a rare "good guy" role. Sleazy Janet Kidder does well as the corporate henchwoman, and Pascale Bussieres is fun as Baldwin/Coates' squeeze.
The idea of switching bodies is fun, but one could see the deadly consequences if you didn't want your own body back.
XCHANGE is a fun little sci fi thriller, with some implausible scenarios of course, but it is SCIENCE FICTION, not fact, and I found myself enjoying the way it played out.
2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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horrible sci-fi thriller
Added 5/24/2004
Stephen Baldwin(The Usual Suspects, One Tough Cop), Kim Coates(Battlefield Earth, WaterWorld) and Kyle Maclachlan(Hamlet2000, One Night Stand) in the same movie together is a good idea but this movie is horribly bad. Though some moments are as ok as others it explores into mind exchanging, hence the title XChange. Maclachlan is on the run and he goes to the nearest body flip, so he has the doc switch him to Stephen Baldwin and Baldwin has 50 hours till he decomposes and Kim Coates is the head badguy on the run trying to track him down. Bad acting with twists and nonstop moaning and groaning. The redhead who helps out Baldwin is hot though. If your a fan of any of the 3 I suggest you watch it and dont ever watch it again.
1 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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Out of Time. Out of Bodies.
Added 7/7/2003
Not a bad sci-fi thriller. Imagine if you could exchange bodies with another, your mind in their body and vice versa. That's the premise behind this futuristic thriller. The movie starts off with with a corporate business man in New York having to attend a meeting in LA on short notice, so he must exchange minds with another. He is hesitant, as he doesn't care for the technology, but he is given no choice by his superior. Once his mind is in another body, he sort of enjoys the benefits, but then finds out the person who is now inhabiting his body in New York is really a corporate terrorist and has stolen his body by not returning at the predesignated time for transfer. Seeing as how the body that he now inhabits was stolen from someone else, he must vacate it and inhabit the body of a clone (Stephen Baldwin). The clone bodies are used for dangerous work, and are extra strong but only have a very limited life span, so if he is unable to find his own body and transfer his mind back, he will perish. I thought this was pretty well done, the plot lines, the intrigue. The story is of a much higher caliber than you would usually see in a lower budget movie like this, and all the actors seem to perform very well in their parts. That being said, there were a few of parts in the movie that were unnecesary. The car chase scene near the end where they are racing along the docks and knock over some poorly positioned yet highly explosive barrels seemed to have no reason for being there whatsoever. Also, the couple of scenes showing the guided missle flying around above the city were not needed, and only took away from the element of suprise when that particular thread of the story came to fruitition. A few weaknesses, but I thought overall the movie was well directed and the story moved along nicely with thought given to the characters and plots. Given some of Stephen Balwdins past movie roles, Fled, Bio-Dome, The Flinstones In Viva Rock Vegas, Slap Shot 2, I wasn't expecting much from this movie, but I plesantly suprised. I would probably give this movie 3 1/2 stars had I had the option.
4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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A Thrill Ride Unlike Baldwin's Usual DTV-Originals...
Added 6/17/2003
As long as you can keep pace during the first 10 minuets, as long as you can remember who's body has been Xchanged to who's and which one was stolen..this unique Sci-Fi action flick is smart and interesting. Kim Coates (Who I remember most from his supporting role as 'Gronky' in 'The Client' (1994) and Lethal Tender (1997), has his best role yet as the rich corporate leader who becomes the evil character when his body is exchanged with another to facilitate a buisness trip to CA. Toffler (MacLachlan) who in his new body on the West Coast panics when learning of the theft and misuse of his exchange in NY. He steals a deactivated clone (Baldwin) and then runs from police and the corporate terrorist (Coates) who has control of his body. The movie does'nt produce any Academy Award winning performances, but its' no surprise to anyone who willingly watches it..who cares. The film is full of cool and odd special FX usually involving dangerous weapons that are an impossibility in real life. The scenerio is interesting in it's originality, when the characters can be tracked by the XChange program through the use of computerized ID tags that every human in this era must carry. One of my particular favorite things are the advanced computer systems in people's homes that can do anything by voice command, but are still glitched in comical ways. Along with the sexy big B* who heads the XChange corporation and finds time out of her corporate kill-and-mangle schedual to get wildly (loved and adored) in her bed, while discussing plans at the same time with her evil boyfriend...the movie produces 5 or 10 interesting characters with unique motives and strengths to carry it's futuristic story and suspense through the usual 'good guy runs, bad guys get killed and good women who have sex with them' scenerio. XChange is a better movie than ANYthing else Stephen Baldwin has done, belive me his movies are aweful. Most are the just the common Patrick Bergen-Like B-Movies that can't be taken seriously because of there cheezyness, predictability and ultimately their explicitness which knocks them out of the mainstream and sends them right to the Blockbuster Video rack. XChange though is a good thrill ride thats' sexy, smart, action/filled (I would'nt say packed) and certainly well-casted.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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My expectations were low but not low enough. The characters are grownups as conceived by a 14-year-old, the science fiction elements are a jumble of naive, nonsensical, and derivative, the ending is telegraphed early on...Kyle MacLachlan is terrible; everybody else does surprisingly earnest work, thus 2 stars for what is otherwise a stack of hackwork. If anybody took an interest in the conception and writing of this, they must have been ousted early on.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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XCHANGE: The Blurring of Fiction with Reality
Added 12/30/2002
The world of XCHANGE is one that is only a few years distance from our own time. The basic architecture is the same, but what gives the social background its distinctive future flavor is the uibiquitousness of future gizmos. The film begins with a miniature victim seeking missile that strikes from out of the blue. Though the surface of the film deals with a future society in which one may transfer his mind to the body of another, the subtext discusses what is often lacking in science fiction films with premises like this: the moral/ethical underpinning. The hero (and this is where it gets confusing) transfers his mind to the body of another (Kyle MacLachlan), who in turn tranfers it to yet a third host (Adam Baldwin). Although most of the plot is a ticking clock that requires a solution before Zero Hour, the true focus is on how both MacLachlan and Baldwin confront the ethics of mind swapping. What are the boundaries that one must observe with a host body? Should one avoid dangerous activities and/or hedonistic encounters. Director Alan Moyles suggests that most of those who mind swap (called floaters) do so mostly to engage in outrageous sexual antics. The ticking time plot requires that the hero focus his attention on regaining the use of his illegally floated body. XCHANGE is a surprisingly in-depth story that requires both floater and viewer to think about the consequences of passionate encounters with other floaters. The consequences of a failure to follow suggested ethics are not often seen in a movie, or, for that matter, in life either.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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For once a genre movie that's got a brain & plenty of action
Added 3/29/2001
Very cool film with one of the best ticking clocks ever.The hero, a guy whose body's been stolen by a terrorist, has three days to find himself before he dies.Kyle MacLachlan gives one of his best performances ever. When he finds out his body ain't coming back, you feel his pain! Stephen Baldwin's pretty good, too, as the clone body Maclachlan has to borrow & proceeds to trash like a rental car.And Pascale Bussieres, where'd she come from?Beautiful, sexy, smart, really good actress.There's lots of good future-shock touches to tell us we're not in Kansas anymore, like gadget boutiques that sell weapons to executives (check out the "protonic monofilament") & assassins who use "seeker" missiles that circle the skies for days waiting for their targets to show (now you know why the movie opens with a bang!). The whole travel-by-body -exchanging angle is original & very clever in the way it plays out. For once we get a genre movie that's got a brain & plenty of action, too. A real surprise coming from director Allan Moyle, whose previous films, including the delicious PUMP UP THE VOLUME, seem more focused on teens, music, & sex (though there's plenty of that here)
5 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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