2 out 5 stars
Finch has all of the makings of a post-apocalyptic Castaway with Tom Hanks as the lead and a Game of Thrones director behind the camera. A robot named Jeff (voiced by Caleb Landry Jones) takes the place of Wilson - the volleyball - and solar flares replace the ocean waves as the imminent threat to his survival, which does seem to be a winning formula for Apple+. Still, something may have gone wrong along the dusty road to San Francisco and has caused a rattle in the brain.
Finch Weinberg (Hanks) has survived for over 10 years since a solar flare destroyed the earth's ozone layer. The majority of the human population has died off or managed to find refuge in areas of the world unaffected by these natural disasters. As a scientist held up inside his former employer's building, he scavenges throughout the streets of St Louis by day. He then works on building a robot while in his lab at night. His only companionship is a dog named Goodyear and a small retriever robot named Dewey. The engineer does all he can to make life work in this lonely existence by reading, playing with the dog and patiently creating the robot named Jeff.
As a ferocious storm approaches his hideaway, he must do all he can to get his latest creation prepared to escape to the West. Jeff has been given all of the knowledge that Finch can provide from the world’s knowledge. Yet, he operates as an innocent child who must learn to adapt to a harsh atmosphere full of wonder and danger. Along with their dog, the pair do all they can to make their way towards San Francisco despite the brutal climate and the android's unknown responses to all of the new experiences that come his way during the unexpected road trip.
Like Tom Hank’s classic that had him marooned on a Pacific island, this screenplay relied on a minimalist approach to introducing new characters. This film was utterly dependent on the Academy Award winner to carry every aspect since his primary counterparts were two robots and a dog. Unfortunately, the screenplay did not give Hanks the support he needed to drive this story through to the end. The familiar post-apocalyptic premise does set up a quirky buddy road trip that has promise at the beginning. Yet, after the setup, everything seems to be rushed and gradually turns into a twisted tale of disarray that never manages to recover.
Even though there are multiple challenges for this project, the fundamental difficulty has to be the relationship between Finch and Jeff. At times it seems to be a father/son combination while attempting to evolve into a friendship. This transition never truly transpired and this does weaken the whole premise. Interestingly, the true purpose of Jeff’s creation is to develop a relationship between the robot and the dog, Goodyear. Then to add to the difficulties of the core message was the whole third act which felt as if it was brought in from a completely different film. Without delivering any spoilers, one question needs to be asked of writer/director Miguel Sapochnik. Why does Tom Hanks end up in a Tommy Bahama suit and a Panama hat after a decade in an ultraviolet-resistant protective suit?
Finch attempts to break new ground within the post-apocalyptic genre. Along with delivering the cause du jour as a warning against climate change (or was it a love letter to the value of dogs. It is all confusing). Sadly, all it did manage to achieve was a dislike for ‘young’ robot voices and proves that the solar car has quite a ways to go before being mass-produced.
Reel Dialogue: Why do we have to suffer?
Throughout this narrative of Finch, suffering is something that is lived with daily by the central character. A reality of life that is something we all can relate to at one point or another.
It might be a surprise to many, but Christianity is the only worldview that has an actual answer to the problem of evil and suffering. Christians can attest that they serve a God who lived as a man on this earth and experienced temptation, torture, hunger, thirst, hatred and death. Due to the work of Jesus on the cross, the justice of God is manifested in his son. The cross is a means of symbolising how much God cares about humanity's suffering. A more profound conclusion is that we may never know the specific reason for our suffering, but that we can identify the God who understands the rationale behind the pain.
“If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot” - Job 9:33
