Finch

2021, Miguel Sapochnik (Repo Men) -- download

There are some movies that I see the trailer for and I just know that I will enjoy them, in fact come Hell or High Water, I will enjoy them. Yeah, I can be that way. So, when I see a trailer for a PoAp movie where an old guy builds a robot to take care of his dog, mixing in heart-felt hijinx and slap-stick, I know I am there. But y'know, I am not even sure why that does it for me, just something about the whimsy and schmaltzy feel-good with robots is in my wheelhouse.

Finch (Tom Hanks, Castaway) is a robotics expert hiding out in the remains of his corporate offices in St. Louis, underneath a single functioning windmill, generating the power he needs to survive, after the world has ended. While Finch is our last man, we get the idea that he chose to be a last man long before the world ended, as he is a bit of an odd-duck and more than a little antisocial. He is also dying, likely from the ever present solar radiation because of the no longer present ozone layer. But Goodyear the dog will need a caretaker, and therefore Finch builds one. Near sentience in robots must be a thing in Finch's day as he doesn't really pay any heed to creating new life, no great ponderings of the Great Meaning of Life, just a quick load of as much data as he can, and a fast-track into talking & walking. A big storm is coming and it will end St. Louis, even more than the End of the World did, so they have to get out of town.

So, road story. The best PoAp stories are road stories. From St Louis to San Franciso, because Finch was never brave enough to actually visit the city. But there shouldn't be any people there, and that should suit his dog and his robot, who names himself Jeff. Jeff is not a slick example of robotics, more like a teenager with a full set of encyclopedias in his head, which he can barely make sense of. But all the emotion and turmoil of youth. He is still learning what it is to be alive, and what his purpose is, while also being on the run from... everything. Not that there is a lot, for there is very little else in this movie but the trio, as the world has indeed died around them. The story is compact and concise and doesn't stray much from the singular goal. Also, Finch hates people so I doubt if they even came across the Helpful Survivor, they would give them a chance.

Jeff (motion cap'd and voice by Caleb Landry Jones, Get Out) is built to catch on quickly, learning to drive, to follow Finch's orders (and not always literally), and to prepare for the day when it's only him and Dog (Finch rarely calls the dog by his name). But the whole emotions thing and interpersonal interaction are the bigger challenge, especially considering Finch is such a dick to him. CLB handles him sooooo well, giving us a childlike WALL-E meets Stephen Hawking voice, supported by tons of minute and overt physical acting -- the regular wiggling of his Mickey Mouse sized fingers, and the reaction to when he hears a loose screw rattling around inside his own head -- well, it had me giggling constantly. And yet, there was weight there, both physically (he probably weighs a ton) and emotionally -- Jeff's feelings constantly get hurt. But he always recovers, like a kicked Boston Robotics dog.

This is not a tour de force for Hanks, but he plays the role admirably well. He knows he is going to die, and there is no shirking away from that. There is no miraculous ending, though some miracles in small amount do prevail. Apparently Finch was so concerned about hiding from people and surviving in his small bit of the world, he never considered what had happened outside it. The ends opened-ended, a whole wide world of experience for Jeff to capture, as long as he has Dog.