An ingenious concept kicks this script off on a high-note, with the swaps providing both fascinating fodder for intellectual consideration as well as some first-rate visuals. The narrative structure is laid out with tight precision, and the plot chugs along at a breakneck pace, keeping the audience on its toes. The themes the script explores are both timely and timeless, and the dark, creepy tone infuses the script with a sense of the ominous, while allowing for a few delicious moments of comedy. This is a great mash-up of such diverse concepts as cloning, the quest for immortality, and the evil that might be wrought if one man’s mind could enter another man’s body. Though the concept owes more than a little to such films as AVATAR, FACE/OFF and even STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, it still emerges with its own distinct voice intact, providing the audience with a brilliant, brain-tickling thrill ride.

The narrative arc stretches expertly outward in scope, from the relatively small swap crimes we first encounter to the sprawling conspiracy to build an army of clones and a means to make the ruling class immortal. The relationship between Mitch and VICTOR builds with ease and confidence, as Victor more than re-pays whatever favors Mitch has done for him. The final twist that reveals that Downey has survived in JORDAN’s body is a great capper to this mind-bending gem.You get us right into the action with the first swap that kills SENATOR NORRIS. The series of bizarre crimes that follow bring up more and more questions in the audience’s mind until we begin to grasp what’s happening. You set your hero off on a classic journey for truth and justice, made all the more powerful by the personal stake Mitch has in this case because of his daughter’s injury. As we learn the villainy extends far beyond Downey’s crimes, all the way to the sinister intention of SENATOR SANTOS to use the technology to prolong the lives of the ultra-rich, the plot keeps us guessing as to what will come next. The surprise ending is a slam-dunk that will leave audiences stunned and delighted as they walk out of theaters.

The story moves at lightning-fast pace, as the stakes rise and the tension level ratchets itself up again and again. We are often left breathless, awed by the excitement of the current moment, and watching and wondering at what will come next. It is a stroke of creative genius to give Downey stutter, circumventing the difficulty of knowing when he is (or is not) inhabiting another body. The dialogue overall captures the cadences and verbal tics of cops, soldiers, senators, and your average man on the street. Victor has some great comic lines. A few more of them would enhance the comic relief that is much-needed in a story so violent and dark. What if we could live in someone else’s skin? Would we use such powers for good or for ill? The script takes wonderful imaginative leaps as it plays with these themes, showing the ways in which body-swapping can be used for personal gain, and the ways in which it can be used for the greater good. Though this is first and foremost a sci-fi/actioner, these more intellectual elements are given just enough consideration to make this the kind of cross-over piece, much like THE MATRIX, that can appeal as much to philosophers as fanboys.

You strike a bleak yet fanciful tone reminiscent of BLADE RUNNER, particularly in the sequences in which Mitch battles groups of identical clones. There is a near-constant ominous air of dread, punctured by the script’s occasional lighter moments, but mostly keeping us right where we should be, on a dangerous journey to the heart of a dark secret with implications for all of humanity. You’ve got a great idea, a gripping plotline, a well-structured script, sharp dialogue and almost pitch-perfect thematic examinations and tonal renderings.