20 November 2021 | New Scientist | 33Running from the storm
A road trip with a robot and a dog is less fun than it sounds,
even with Tom Hanks at the wheel, finds Gregory WakemanFilm
Finch
Miguel Sapochnik
Apple TV+
FINCH has all the elements to be
a dark, but ultimately uplifting,
post-apocalyptic, sci-fi comedy
drama. Not only does it boast
Robert Zemeckis as a producer, it
also comes from Steven Spielberg’s
studio Amblin Entertainment and
marks the second feature film of
Miguel Sapochnik, who directed
key parts of the iconic HBO series
Game of Thrones.
The primary reason it should
captivate audiences throughout,
though, is that Tom Hanks plays the
title character. Hanks is in pretty
much every scene as Finch, an ailing
inventor who is the last person on
Earth. Since he still has his trusty
and beloved dog Goodyear by his
side, Finch decides to build an
android named Jeff to look after
his companion once he is gone.
But after learning of an
impending storm that is going
to destroy his home, Finch decides
to leave St Louis, Missouri, and
drive Jeff and Goodyear across
the US to San Francisco in his
run-down motorhome.
Along the way, Finch tries to
teach his constantly malfunctioning
robot what it means to be human so
that he can truly protect Goodyear,
all while trying to find food and
safety in the dangerous and
ravaged post-apocalyptic world.
Unfortunately for Hanks fans,
Finch never actually comes close
to delivering on its potential.
While Sapochnik is able to create
impressively menacing visuals of
enormous storm clouds wreaking
havoc, this feeling of peril quickly
dissipates. Once gone, it never
returns, as there aren’t enough set
pieces to make you sit up, let alone
put you on the edge of your seat.
At the same time, while the
reasons for the destruction of
civilisation are heavily teased,
Sapochnik’s direction and Craig
Luck and Ivor Powell’s script
lack the detail or weight to really
make the film’s message about the
dangers of climate change connect.
The main reason why Finch
falls so short, though, is that the
camaraderie and relationship
between Finch, Jeff and Goodyear
doesn’t come close to resonating.
Since Finch is struggling with illness,
Hanks’s portrayal is rightfully timid
and frail. But this means he never
manages to bring out the humanity
of the character, who spends most
of the film either coughing up
blood or getting annoyed at Jeff.
Somehow, Hanks was able
to develop a more emotional
connection with a volleyball
covered in blood in Zemeckis’s
2000 survival drama Cast Away
than he is with Jeff and Goodyear.
Finch was clearly inspired by that
film, as well as Spielberg’s repeated
use of science fiction to explore
fatherhood. But it doesn’t addanything to the genre or explore
the theme in an insightful manner.
It also doesn’t help that Caleb
Landry Jones’s vocal performance
as Jeff is too flat. As a result, the
repeated attempts at comedy fail.
Instead, we are forced to endure
scenes of Jeff falling over or
misreading situations because
he takes things too literally. All of
which quickly becomes tiresome.
Despite all this, Finch isn’t a
complete miss. The score from
Gustavo Santaolalla is particularly
rousing, while Sapochnik and
his editor Tim Porter make sure
that there is a steady pace that
averts a full descent into tedium.
Jo Willems’s cinematography
glistens, too. It perfectly
complements Sapochnik’s
framing, which means that a lot
of the shots are utterly gorgeous.
It is just a shame that Finch
doesn’t actually do anything
more heartfelt and thought-
provoking with these images.
Instead, it is the cinematic definition
of style over substance and is
ultimately so disappointingly
tame that not even the star
power of Hanks can salvage it. ❚Gregory Wakeman is a journalist
based in Los AngelesTom Hanks plays Finch, whose
post-apocalyptic journey depends
on a flawed, yet loyal, teamAP
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