When watching Tom Hanks in Finch, the last survivor on earth, one can quickly remember his 2000’s masterpiece Cast Away.
But, while Chuck Noland in Cast Away found himself the only survivor of a plane crash and feeling nostalgic about the past, clinging to hope and counting the days to return to his normal life, Finch is only caring about the future of his dog – because he knows that he won’t be part of it.
Finch, a robotics engineer tries to protect himself from the aftermath of a catastrophic solar explosion, which caused temperatures to rise to 70 degrees Celsius, spread harmful ultraviolet rays, and extreme weather conditions. He hides in his laboratory, inside a ruined and abandoned building that once housed the company in which he worked.
Accompanied only by a dog he calls Good Year, and a small primitive robot called Dewey, which he uses to help him perform simple tasks, Finch decides to build another larger, stronger and smarter robot for one reason: to take care of his dog after he dies.
In their first dialogue, Finch asks his new robot, which later name Jeff, what he should do when Finch is absent, Jeff replies, “Take care of the dog.”
Finch knows that he is going to die as his health is deteriorating. Unlike Noland, he has no hope for a better future. He knows that there is no future so he teaches Jeff everything — how to talk, walk and drive.
Jeff (voice by Caleb Landry Jones) is learning like a newborn who wants to explore the life of humans. He imitates Finch, the only human he knows, in everything. Jeff becomes more human.
Although at first we see Finch creating Jeff to take care of the dog, the rest of the movie focuses on Jeff, in which Finch inserts a huge amount of information and literature, and a summary of artificial intelligence techniques.
It may seem odd to see a robot sitting in open air at night, wrapped in a blanket, as if he is feeling cold, or putting on a jacket. But, Jeff is trying everything to get closer to the human world.
Starring only Tom Hanks, a dog and a robot, Finch directed by Miguel Sapochnik is still interesting because of the smart dialogue between Finch and Jeff, and Jeff’s sense of humour when learning something new. However, the plot itself is not well crafted.
According to the movie, after the catastrophe of the solar explosion and the annihilation of millions of people, earth is no longer safe. The lack of food and resources has turned the human survivours into monsters that will kill others in order to live. But, by the end of the movie, Finch and Jeff arrive at a place on earth where there are no ultraviolet rays and the sun and nature seem untouched.
So, Finch puts on a suit and spends his last days enjoying the sun’s rays. Why didn’t Finch travel this far to see new survival options from the beginning.
Yet, Tom Hanks acted with a ball, calling it Wilson in Cast Away, for which he was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor for a Leading Role in 2000. He can therefore deliver a sterling performance with a robot and a dog.
