Finch (2021)
Directed by Miguel Sapochnik
On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a robot, built to protect the life of his dying creator's beloved dog, learns about life, love, friendship, and what it means to be human.
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In terms of design and performance, Jeff borrows many of the lovable elements of other well-known mechanical lifeforms – from Short Circuit (1986) to Wall-E (2008).
So we’ve got Short Circuit , WALL-E , The Road and The Quiet Earth as the most obvious reference points.
Article content Apple is the site for his newest, which combines elements of WALL-E and Cast Away , with bits of The Martian and Short Circuit thrown in.
It does, however, have Hanks, who delivers the mawkishness with an appealing level of wit, basically playing second banana to the adorable mutt and the oft-annoying robot, Jeff, a first cousin of the equally smarmy droid from 1986’s “Short Circuit.”
Well, in a strange way, I’m thankful that the folks in Cupertino saved a genuinely strange little film like this from its probable failure (and subsequent branding as a “bomb”) at the box office, because Finch plays like a bizarre mash-up of The Road (or insert your own post-apocalyptic film or book here, though it’s more The Dog Stars than A Boy and His Dog ) and Short Circuit .
As far as science fiction films go, Finch is not entirely new, where movies such as Short Circuit , Her , and Bicentennial Man have focused on the relationships of humans and robots.
At the outset, Hanks has Goodyear to keep him company along with a squat, WALL-E-esque robotic companion named Dewey, whose name may be a nod to one of the three greenhouse-tending robots in Douglas Trumbull’s 1972 sci-fi eco-missive, Silent Running .
As the titular Finch, he’s holed up in a research facility in a desert-ified St. Louis with only a dog (Seamus) and a robot named Dewey (a telling nod to sci-fi eco landmark Silent Running), waiting for his end from the cancer from the UV rays that have left no blade of grass on Earth.
In this narrowly focused, post-apocalyptic tale, Tom Hanks plays Finch, a lonely man who lives with his dog and his machines in a heavily armored facility (think “Silent Running” set on Earth).
So I get it — a pre-pandemic one-hander with a little “Silent Running” here, some “Wall-E” there and the fear that it could go all “Omega Man” at any minute.
Finch fits in with those films that show the nicer, kinder side of robots – Bicentennial Man , Short Circuit , Silent Running , A.I. , Wall-E , Interstellar ) – though the droid featured here, named Jeff, is more anthropomorphized than most – so much so we see his chest heave, as though he can breathe.
There’s a little bit of Wall-E in there, a little bit of The Iron Giant, and definitely some Silent Running, too.
Alone with his dog like Will Smith in “I Am Legend” (2017), Hanks combines the doggie daddy duties of “Turner & Hooch” (1989) with personified pals like Wilson the volleyball in “Cast Away” (2000).
The elements of the story, like a man alone with his dog post apocalypse are reminiscent of I Am Legend , and Jeff, although physically different has similarities to Wall-E .
Despite the immediate similarities the film conjures up in its opening minutes, reminding viewers of everything from The Walking Dead to Midnight Sky to WALL-E to The Martian to I Am Legend , Finch does find its way to a unique tale soon enough.
If you wanted to analyze the DNA of Finch’s story, it’s a cross between Wall-E , I Am Legend, and I, Robot – but the movie borrows sparingly from each of those films, and only does so when it comes to macro ideas.
Not unlike Will Smith in I Am Legend , this is a movie star who is largely alone, save for a dog and a robot portrayed by a terrific Caleb Landry Jones using motion capture.
The problem that keeps this away from the kind of cozy catastrophe that we normally expect from films with this sort of isolationist bent — and what separates it from fucking I Am Legend (2007) — is that Finch is dying from radiation poisoning, and rather than let his beloved pal starve to death in his absence, the scientist has spent the last several months of his life working on a plan to make sure that he is cared for.
“Finch” will remind viewers of his turn in 2000’s “Cast Away.”
With Tom Hanks the only human on screen and carrying on one-sided conversations, this 2021 post-apocalyptic sci-fi buddy road trip comedy has definite Cast Away vibes.
Article content Apple is the site for his newest, which combines elements of WALL-E and Cast Away , with bits of The Martian and Short Circuit thrown in.
Alone with his dog like Will Smith in “I Am Legend” (2017), Hanks combines the doggie daddy duties of “Turner & Hooch” (1989) with personified pals like Wilson the volleyball in “Cast Away” (2000).
With their first credited feature screenplay, Craig Luck and Ivor Powell seem to have taken inspiration from everything from “A Boy and His Dog” and “Chappie” to their star’s own “Cast Away.”
Finch is another Last Man on Earth post-apocalyptic film, something akin to Chappie meets The Walking Dead and Cast Away.
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With their first credited feature screenplay, Craig Luck and Ivor Powell seem to have taken inspiration from everything from “A Boy and His Dog” and “Chappie” to their star’s own “Cast Away.”
Given the dynamics, the film also calls to mind the quirky 1975 cult staple “A Boy and His Dog” (in which a young Don Johnson has a telepathic dog that helps him find women) and, to a lesser degree, “Wall-E” (2008).
Well, in a strange way, I’m thankful that the folks in Cupertino saved a genuinely strange little film like this from its probable failure (and subsequent branding as a “bomb”) at the box office, because Finch plays like a bizarre mash-up of The Road (or insert your own post-apocalyptic film or book here, though it’s more The Dog Stars than A Boy and His Dog ) and Short Circuit .
Essentially a bizarre cross between the two notable 70s-era post-apocalyptic sagas "A Boy and His Dog" and "Damnation Alley"--minus the various weird and grisly elements that cropped up in those projects---"Finch" wants to come across as both a profoundly moving testament to the enduring power of humanity under the most trying of circumstances and as a tour-de-force performance for Hanks in a film that, save for the dog and the CGI robot, is basically a solo gig throughout.
The movie has a whole “PG-rated Chappie ” vibe that almost makes it heartwarming.
With their first credited feature screenplay, Craig Luck and Ivor Powell seem to have taken inspiration from everything from “A Boy and His Dog” and “Chappie” to their star’s own “Cast Away.”
Finch is another Last Man on Earth post-apocalyptic film, something akin to Chappie meets The Walking Dead and Cast Away.
The CGI robot isn’t as adorable as “WALL-E” (2008) nor as annoying as “Chappie” (2015), but still an impressive feat of visual effects.
On the downside, though, the film also features a supporting robot character who often veers dangerously close to Chappie territory in being the most toe-curlingly irritating artificial intelligence in the history of movies before finding a redemption of his own.
His previous two movies are similarly minor — Greyhound and News of the World were only memorable because he’s in them — and now one glimpse of the poster for Finch makes a body wonder if the perennially lovable Tom Hanks, one of history’s greatest film actors, is going to push a shopping cart across yet another post-apocalyptic wasteland with Chappie’s little brother.
To get Goodyear to a more habitable spot, since a bare hand burns up like a vampire in the 140-degree sunlight without a protective suit, the three set off in a jacked-up RV reminiscent of the one Jan-Michael Vincent tooled around in in “Damnation Alley” (1977).
Dewey is merely on-hand to help Finch forage for supplies, since the warm, comforting smile of America’s Dad suggests there’s nothing truly terrifying lurking in the dark; no Omega Man light-averse mutants or giant scorpions from 1977’s Damnation Alley that’ll require Hanks to throw haymakers, pick up a flamethrower or fire the pistol he flashes in one brief shot, suggesting that even Checkov’s Gun didn’t survive the apocalypse.
Essentially a bizarre cross between the two notable 70s-era post-apocalyptic sagas "A Boy and His Dog" and "Damnation Alley"--minus the various weird and grisly elements that cropped up in those projects---"Finch" wants to come across as both a profoundly moving testament to the enduring power of humanity under the most trying of circumstances and as a tour-de-force performance for Hanks in a film that, save for the dog and the CGI robot, is basically a solo gig throughout.
It’s possible that a weightier take on this material could’ve worked the prestige angle à la “Castaway,” or that a bigger one — complete with shocking reveals, sinister antagonists, or even just a second human character of any kind — might have been able to position itself as a modest blockbuster of sorts, but the script that Craig Luck and “Blade Runner” associate producer Ivor Powell managed to extrapolate from the former’s short film has no such ambitions.
And here we have one of the little issues with the script, penned by industry unknown Craig Luck and Ivor Powell, an associate producer on Ridley Scott classics “Alien” (1979) and “Blade Runner” (1982) who was impressed with the 20-page version of the script the former had written as a film school-graduation project.
It’s the byproduct of a strange-bedfellows script by Craig Luck, a longtime production assistant on MCU and Disney live-action films, and Ivor Powell, a near-octogenarian who came up with filmmaker Ridley Scott at the BBC and was a producer on Scott’s The Duellists, Alien and Blade Runner.
Soon enough, writers Craig Luck and Ivor Powell (the latter has producing roots in sci-fi milestones like “Blade Runner” and “Alien”) introduce us to Finch’s daily routine, consisting mostly of cutting open thousands of books, scanning them page by page and loading all the data onto the robot he’s been building, just to have a backup guardian for Goodyear after he’s gone.
While in some instances, they’re borderline cute (virtually every “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” installment, “Short Circuit,” “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” “WALL-E,” “A.I.”), or written as suspicious sex symbols (“Blade Runner,” “Ex-Machina,” “Tron: Legacy”), the lion’s share of the remaining portrayals have been (appropriately) positioned as villains.
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Article content Apple is the site for his newest, which combines elements of WALL-E and Cast Away , with bits of The Martian and Short Circuit thrown in.
A cross between Cast Away and The Martian (maybe even a spiritual successor to the former), Miguel Sapochnik adds another excellent entry to his growing resume, proving yet again why he’s swiftly becoming one of Hollywood’s most in-demand directors.
Despite the immediate similarities the film conjures up in its opening minutes, reminding viewers of everything from The Walking Dead to Midnight Sky to WALL-E to The Martian to I Am Legend , Finch does find its way to a unique tale soon enough.
In a manner akin to “Moon,” “The Martian,” “A Quiet Place,” and “Arctic,” the practically dialogue-free, yet highly-informative opening act delivers volumes of information.
Unlike the stranded, solitary men of “Cast Away” and “The Martian,” Finch has no family or home to get back to.
So we’ve got Short Circuit , WALL-E , The Road and The Quiet Earth as the most obvious reference points.
We either go down in flames, screaming, in bombastic spectacles like Independence Day and 2012 or we are extinguished with a little more dignity and grace, contemplating the fragility of our humanity and our place in the scheme of things in films such as The Quiet Earth and Z for Zachariah .