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Xchange – Rewind
Xchange is a 2000 science fiction story that is based on a technology created in the near future by a company call Xchange. They offer a service where humans can swap bodies with another, and can be there in person at a meeting half way across the world using this new technology. It’s all quite detailed if you delve into it, as bodies are available to certain corporate people where they can jump into a temporary body to do a dangerous task or activity, or just to simply make a meeting on the otherside of the world. When something goes wrong through the movies main character Toffler played by Steven Baldwin for the most part, is unwittingly transferred into the body of a terrorist who just happens to be the owner of a time limited cloned body, it forces Toffler to find the terrorists and get back control of his own body before the new body he is in expires and dies.
The actual idea behind Xchange is an interesting one, and there are lots of neat touches that will make the sci fi junky in you smile, if you are one that is. With a story that could have been far more memorable, a screenplay that is lacking in some places, and some hit and miss acting, its surprising that Xchange is quite as gripping as it is. Maybe it was the fact I love stories like this, and that the two leads aren’t to shabby, Stephen Baldwin is decent in the lead with Pascale Bussières being plenty fine playing Madeleine Renard. Madeleine is Toffers ex flame who gets roped in to helping him on his quest to get his real body back.
Xchange as its stands is a low budget movie that has some lofty ideas and handles them pretty well with what it has at its disposal. If your liked Total Recall, Strange Days and Bladerunner, you’ll no doubt find something to like here, even though it lacks some of the finesse and style and class that all the previous movies had, if your not a sci fi or thriller fan then give it a miss.