Completed with difficulty after the death of one of its stars, Natalie Wood, in a drowning tragedy, Douglas Trumbull's sci-fi drama (from a story by Bruce Joel Rubin who wrote Ghost) has at least the core of an interesting idea, successfully carried out in spasms, and most notably so the nearer it approaches the realms of the straight thriller. Wood, Christopher Walken, Louise Fletcher and others are working on a project which enables brain waves to be transferred from one head to another, so that ultimately 'experiences' can be recorded. The government soon has its beady eyes on the project for its armed forces and when Fletcher dies from a heart attack (which she 'records' on tape) it's up to Walken and Wood to destroy the programme before the warmongers can put it to use. Personal relationships of the characters tend to intrude on the central drama without affecting it, but maybe this is the result of Wood's untimely death. At times, the film is exciting, tense and amusing in turn. But not, alas, all of the time.


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