The Brain-Stealers
Shaw Brothers’ brief infatuation with James Bond continues to lose steam with this retread of their earlier spy capers. Director Umetsugu Inoue delivers his usual mix of bold colors and extensive costume changes. But the script is a mix of lifeless and confusing, with far too many characters all intermingling but never doing much of anything.
The Brain Stealers sticks to the same formula as all of the other Shaw spy films. Lily Ho is a Judo expert who is also the daughter of a famous scientist. A evil gang, led by the mysterious and scarred Dr. Zero, wants to kidnap her dad so that he can help them make a race of giants. Or something. The gang’s plan is a little unclear. They also have a giant computer that can store brains and a machine that lets them transfer brains between people. Why do they also need giants? Who can say.
If this seems familiar even for a Shaw Brothers spy film that may be because the story is cobbled together from the bones of Kiss and Kill and The Angel Strikes Again. Though all the brain stuff is new and has a lot of potential for goofy shenanigans.
If only the movie had leaned in to the brain stuff then maybe it could have provided some weird fun, which is something the film sorely lacks. Instead much of the first hour is spent explaining and re-explaining the plot and introducing a wide collection of barely used characters (U.N. spies, some chemical fertilizer executives, a random girlfriend, the butler, etc.)
It’s also not helped by its big twist which comes far too late in the film to allow the actors to have any fun with it. If the twist had been revealed earlier the actors might have livened things up by playing against type.
The male leads do not help much. Peter Chen Ho seems particularly out of place; his goofy rom-com charm gets shoehorned into a love triangle, but he’s otherwise a third wheel. The other lead, Lin Chih-Yung, makes his film debut here. He only made a few pictures with Shaw Brothers before leaving acting. HKMDB reports that he went on to do pyrotechnics work. This leads to an easy joke about him bringing no fire to his role in The Brain Stealers.
If the actors aren’t great and the plot is a bit of a bore, at least we have Lily Ho. Though she’s occasionally shoved to the background by all of the other characters on screen, she’s a lot of fun when the movie lets her do her stuff (her stuff being judo and wearing amazing outfits). Huge congratulations to costume designer Chen Pi-Hsi for dressing Lily Ho in an endless array of crisp blouses and colorful ties. Truly the star of the show.
Ian Whitney
Published: 2025-07-14