As you might guess, Hanks is the eponymous central figure and pretty much runs the film as a one hander. Aside from a few brief anonymous appearances by humans, Finch shares the screen with only his dog and a robot. having played opposite a beachball in 'Castaway', Hanks has no trouble relating to either. The dog is especially well trained and the empathy between Finch and his dog is natural and relateable. Finch has another small service droid, called 'Huey' - a probably nod to 'Silent Running' and the trio of service bots on the 'Valley Forge', rather than Donald Duck's nephew. Huey is little more than a kit robot, fitted out with various waldo arms and a shopping basket to help Finch in his forays for food.
The robot, which eventually acquires a name, is built of random parts and an industrial endoskeletal armature, making it very strong and capable. But as with any A.I, it needs to learn how to be something near to human and how to adapt to the hostile situations ahead of it.
As the film progresses, we see 'Jeff' adapt and change, with his 'speak and spell' vocals softening as he talks to Finch during the course of the film, to enunciate in a mid-western teenage drawl. What is more charming is Jeffs' character development, as he eagerly attempts to be more 'Finch' and help his friends, with varying degrees of success.
Initially stiff and clumsy, Jeff develops mannerisms and postures all his own and by the end of the film has transformed into a fully fledged 'person', with faults and foibles and even something akin to emotion as he mimics Finch in his everyday activity. Some of Jeffs mannerisms bring to mind 'Wallace and Grommit' from the animated series, to obvious comedic effect.
If you compare Finch to the recent robot releases such as 'Chappie', 'Ex Machina 'or even 'Her' which all approach the artificial intelligence concept from different angles, sacrificing realism for full-bore action, or dramatic suspense - Finch wins out as a heartwarming and interesting tale, with great visuals and as ever, a stunning performance by one of the most versatile actors of our day and a very notable performance by the talented voice-actor behind Jeff himself. Well worth seeking out.
Conversely, I watched the latest netflix film 'Army of Thieves', which is a prequel to the Snyder Zombie film 'Army of the Dead'. AotD ends with many questions unanswered and was in general a good film, so I watched Army of Thieves, expecting to get a little clarity on its sequel. Absolutely none was forthcoming. The zombie element is mentioned in passing and apart from the main character, who crops up in the AotD film, theres little correlation. Thieves basically centres on safecracking in modern Germany and a pointless and empty burgeoning romance between the two main characters. An absolute farce. I cant say a good word about the film at all, aside from maybe the gargantuan wagnerian safes look pretty.
ReplyDeleteI will give Finch a whirl Wote. I like Tom Hanks and like you say his Castaway role was played well. I've never seen Chappie or Her. I did see Army of the Dead. Was there a zombie tiger in it? I'll give Army of Theives a miss. The problem I have with watching Netflix films is that I can't get all the way through and then can't be bothered to finish the next day. Not sure what that is. Film fatigue?
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