‘Kaiju or not, we got you covered’: Singapore Armed Forces ‘battles’ Godzilla

SINGAPORE – With award-winning monster movie Godzilla Minus One topping streaming charts locally

following its release on Singapore’s Netflix on June 1,

 the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has reiterated its dedication to defending the Republic – through comedic shorts showing it battling the creature.

At 3pm on June 4,

popular Singapore humour site SGAG

tagged the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and the Singapore Army in separate posts on Facebook, showing members of both forces superimposed against scenes from Godzilla Minus One.

“Hope you have a plan,” said SGAG to RSN. And to the Singapore Army, it said: “I don’t think he got camp pass leh”.

RSN responded in the same afternoon with a video. “Our newly graduated sea soldiers were on patrol and were alerted by friends from SGAG about a potential sighting. We immediately activated our drawer plan, detected and handled the threat!” it said.

In the video, RSN unveiled its “Top Secret Ops Godzilla” plan, with the monster being engulfed in a fiery explosion.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) then joined the “battle”, posting an image in the evening that showed one of its jets attacking Godzilla.

“The Singapore Army and Republic of Singapore Navy friends had some trouble with #Godzilla… Kaiju or not, we got you covered,” it said.

Kaiju is a Japanese term for “strange creature”. It can refer to giant monsters featured in Japanese films and television programmes, or those in a similar style made elsewhere, according to Oxford English Dictionary.

On the morning of June 5, the Singapore Army also posted a short video showing Godzilla being taken out in a series of explosions. “Fret not, we saved the best for last,” it said.

Godzilla Minus One, which won the Best Visual Effects category at the 2024 Academy Awards, opened in overseas cinemas in 2023,

meeting with critical and commercial success

.

However, it was unavailable in Singapore because in certain regions, two Godzilla movies cannot be released at the same time.

This modest Japanese production costing US$12 million (S$16 million) had to give way to Hollywood’s Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (2024), which cost 10 times more to make.

Godzilla Minus One tells the story of World War II Japanese pilot Koichi who is haunted by his past – and somehow by the kaiju Godzilla itself.