I think it’s quite fair to say that in this part of the world, outside of Japan, GODZILLA MINUS ONE is the year’s most highly anticipated film. Unlike in the US and in many European countries, the film never got a commercial release here due to the agreement that Toho, the film’s distributor, has with Legendary Pictures, the distributor of GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE. Thou shalt not have two Godzilla movies playing in the cinema in the same calendar year. GODZILLA MINUS ONE was released in Japan in October of last year, and in the US in December, while GODZILLA x KONG was released in March of this year. That’s why the Americans were able to see it but we here in Hong Kong could not. That’s also how GODZILLA MINUS ONE was able to qualify and then win an Oscar award (for Best Visual Effects). At long last, the film is now streaming on Amazon Prime… in Japan. For those of us who have a VPN, it means we can finally see the movie.

It’s the final days of World War II and kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki/神木 隆之介, LAST LETTER (ラストレター) flies his plane to the remote Odo Island. He tells the lead mechanic who is stationed there, Sōsaku Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki/青木 崇高, THE ROUNDUP: NO WAY OUT), that he had engine trouble but when Tachibana looks at the plane, he realizes that Shikishima has deserted the war. Before they can deal with that though, a prehistoric reptilian monster emerges from the sea and lays waste to the naval outpost killing everyone there except the two men. With the war over, Shikishima heads home to Tokyo and finds the city in ruins from the American bombs. After a young woman, Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe/浜辺 美波, LET ME EAT YOUR PANCREAS), with an infant moves into his home, Shikishima decides to take a dangerous but well-paying job clearing mines from the coast. It’s out on the water where he comes face-to-face with the monster again but now Godzilla has mutated into something much larger and more lethal. Shikishima decides his war won’t be over until the monster is vanquished.

What a movie! Seventy years and 36 films since the giant lizard first appeared in our cinemas or on our black-and-white TV screens, writer-director Takashi Yamazaki/山崎 貴 has breathed new life into this franchise. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. “What about Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise?” Oh, honey, there’s no comparison between the two. Sure, GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE has made a ton of money at the box office (over US$500 million so far) and the franchise will continue to do so because there’s a market for popcorn entertainment, but as far as story-writing goes, GODZILLA MINUS ONE is a literary classic compared to GODZILLA x KONG’s trashy airport novel. GODZILLA MINUS ONE is less about the monster, though, than it is about loss, trauma, responsibility and redemption in post-war Japan. Fear not, though. If you’re looking for scenes of Godzilla doing its rampaging thing, this film has plenty of that too, and it’s somewhat frightening to watch. There’s a JAWS feel to the film, especially the scene where Godzilla is chasing the rickety wooden boat that Shikishima and his fellow minesweepers are sailing on. Equally satisfying are the scenes of the monster tearing through the Ginza, crumbling buildings with a swish of its tail, tossing train cars around like matchsticks and literally blowing the Japanese away with its heat ray. This was a well-deserved Oscar win.

Although there has been no word yet on a sequel, GODZILLA MINUS ONE leaves the possibility for one wide open. If it will be as entertaining as this one, I’m all in! In the meantime, a black-and-white version of the film, entitled GODZILLA MINUS ONE/MINUS COLOR, has been released. It apparently played for one week only in the US. I haven’t heard if or when it will come to Amazon Prime but count me in for that one too.

GODZILLA MINUS ONE is streaming now on Amazon Prime in Japan. This is how it’s done.

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