Why do audiences like to watch Tom Hanks suffer? Cast Away, Philadelphia, hell throw Forrest Gump in there, the man can play optimistic men broken and beaten down by life like no other. It comes as no surprise then that the man affectionately known as “America’s Dad” pulls it off again in Miguel Sapchnik’s Finch; the story of a man, his dog and his robot crossing a post-apocalyptic United States. It is only thanks to Hanks’ affability and some wonderful voice work from Caleb Landry Jones that Finch works as well as it does; an otherwise forgettable sci-fi adventure with more under the hood than meets the eye.
After a deadly solar flare has rendered the surface of Earth inhospitable, lone robotic engineer Finch (Hanks) roams the desert landscape by day – scavenging for what precious few supplies remain – and by night works on Jeff (Landry Jones), a robot designed to care for Finch’s dog Goodyear after he succumbs to the radiation-induced cancer ravaging his body. When an approaching superstorm threatens to wipe out the trio’s underground sanctuary, they set out for the (relative) safety of San Francisco, a cross-country journey that will test all of Finch’s will, patience and determination.
Finch’s odd-couple road trip story is nothing we haven’t seen before, but Hanks’ presence goes a long way toward helping you look past the familiar and care for Finch and the outcome of his journey. Unlike those other roles, we find Hanks’ character post-trauma; a shell of a man whose only joy in this hellscape America comes from the companionship he feels for Goodyear. Jeff’s arrival signals a change in the status quo and the start of Finch having to come to terms with saying goodbye to his canine pal. As such there is a constant undercurrent of sadness that is balanced out by the ridiculous antics and childlike excitement of Jeff who – unlike other famous film robots – has quite the personality; approaching every new teaching and location with a sense of childlike wonder (think C3-P0 before R2-D2 made him a cynical asshole).
Landry Jones brings that personality to life wonderfully through lively, deeply emotive voice work that perfectly encapsulates the giddy highs of a child learning something new before the adult (Finch) scolds them for it. The effects help a great deal here; clearly Apple has spent a small fortune on ensuring that Jeff feels realistic and reacts to the world around him – slumping his shoulders in sadness and cocking his head in interest – in a way that feels both foreign and familiar; you are able to look past Jeff’s looks and see the touching father/son relationship at the film’s core. Finch might seem like quite the cruisy, conflict-less film but Sapochnik does a great job creating tension out of very little, crafting a wonderfully tense moment wrought from little more than a car driving behind Finch; normally fine, but potentially doom-bringing in this apocalypse.
Finch accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do; presenting a touching story of a man, his robot and his dog bonding and learning some hard lessons about themselves and one another as they traverse an apocalyptic America. Sapochnik wisely never bites off more than he can chew (apart from a slightly bloated runtime), keeping the action contained and the stakes intimately low; one man gone in the apocalypse doesn’t mean much in the larger scheme of things but to Goodyear it means everything. Well played Hanks, you’ve done it again.
Finch stars Tom Hanks & Caleb Landry Jones – Streaming on Apple TV+ now.