Mans Best Friend

I've just watched Tom Hanks latest Apple TV film, 'Finch'. A post-apocalyptic tale of the close future, especially topical at the moment with the moral panic over global warming, it is set in America following a massive solar flare, which devastates and already weakened ozone layer. 

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.

As Finch is an astrophysicist and engineer, with a well supplied underground bolthole and access to industrial level technology, he builds a new humaoid robot - not with a view to finding company, but with another directive entirely.

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.