- Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
- November 5, 2021
A man and his robot struggle to survive on an Earth devastated by a solar flare.
Finch looks good and the acting is great. It is difficult to maintain anything like this for 30 minutes let alone as a feature length presentation. The effects look to be a mixture of practical and digital. This is a well-done drama but what it lacks is a story. What is the beginning, middle, and end? It plays more like a slice of life story.
Spoil alert but basically this whole movie is about Finch (Tom Hanks) dying and building a robot to take care of a dog. Why is the dog so significant? Because he got the dog after being afraid of a mother and daughter he encountered while scavenging for supplies. When that mother and daughter were stumbled upon by another scavenger and killed, he felt guilt over hiding until it was safe for him and that’s when he found the dog and apparently his guilt compels him to take care of the dog human named Goodyear. That is the thrust of the film.
Finch is so concerned over the fate of the dog that he builds a robot which eventually comes to call itself Jeff (Caleb Landry Jones) to take care of Goodyear when he dies. That is the post-apocalyptic equivalent of a millionaire that leaves their home to their dog.
That is enough for a short film but not nearly enough for a feature length story. Finch is an entertaining drama, and I did enjoy myself but I have seen stuff like this before on YouTube as short films or in something direct to video from the 80s. The story itself is nothing too special and is most notable for having Tom Hanks in it.
Finch is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a solar flare has severely damaged the ozone layer and the titular character struggles to survive. The Earth is all but dead. The only survivor besides Finch that we see take part in the story in this film is his dog who goes a chunk of the movie without having its name mentioned. Any survivors we see occur only in the flashback.
The performances in this film are great. You become invested in the characters and not only feel bad in the finale but also feel for Jeff when he must figure out what to do next. And it does manage to end on a hopeful note.
Finch is nothing unique, but it is entertaining and that in the end is what you are after. It’s a good bit of character focused drama that you will enjoy and if given the chance revisit. I say take a chance!
Warren Watched A Movie 
As its on appleTV (or whatever they call it) I doubt I’ll ever get to see this, which is an increasingly annoying problem these days, as streamers lock content behind their paywalls. The futures isn’t bright. Its exclusivity and I want no part in it. It just annoys me no end that Tom Hanks has made two films I may never be able to see. I appreciate its my choice and I may cave in someday but certainly for now I draw the line at both appleTV and Disney+.
Over here in the UK, remember, we have to pay £160 to finance a broadcaster (the BBC) we don’t even necessarily watch and which increasingly aims its programming at an entirely different demographic in a silly attempt to capture the youth market- its a broadcaster with no interest in my tastes but which wants my money every year through an enforced tax. So yeah, paying for tv content rankles me from the start.
Your review by the way makes me think of the Harlan Ellison story (and 1975 movie) A Boy and His Dog- its sounds like a very similar premise. Surprised there’s no litigation…
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Harlan Ellison was never afraid to sue or complain in life but he passed in 2018 so that is probably why. I have never seen the movie or read the story A Boy and His Dog but am curious since you noted possible similarities.
My girlfriend got appleTV as part of some promo deal and that was how we watched it.
I am in a love/hate relationship with streaming. There is so much I wish to see spread out among so many services but no one service has that much I wish to see. To get them all is in my mind cost prohibitive and ultimately a waste of money since much of what I like or may be interested in that is older is either unavailable or costs extra such as I have occasionally come across on Amazon.
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I’m certain once streaming becomes the norm and physical media mostly just niche (if it isn’t already) then the likes of Disney will start moving to a PPV model and people will have to pay to watch anything and everything. It’ll cost more than it ever did to watch movies or tv shows, and what it costs now to subscribe per month for everything will seem like the good old days.
True or not, I remember reading somewhere that George Lucas always disliked home video, when a customer could buy or rent Star Wars and watch it as often as he liked, when Lucas wanted to be paid for each time anyone watched it – he saw PPV as the ideal.
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I heard something like that as well and that was the main reason it took him so long to get the original films on video.
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