Tom Hanks is the one name that comes up so many times when people ask other people the question ‘who’s one of your favourite actors?’  Tom Hanks is also the answer I give when asked that very question and with a body of work that Tom Hanks, has, there are so many film titles that you can give out to back up that answer. I wont go through that list here, but Finch is now a film that I have added onto that list, and the film is now available to watch on Apple TV.

Set in a post apocalyptic world where nature is more hostile than normal. Finch (played by Tom Hanks) travels the deserted towns and cities to scavenge for the supplies he needs to survive. With Good Year, the Dog, and a robot called Duey, Finch avoids any thought of human contact but soon learns that due to his failing health, he needs to create someone or something to look after Good Year , should he not be around to care for his canine friend. This is where Jeff comes in. Finch builds and brings to life a robot companion (Jeff) whose sole role will be to dog sit should Finch depart this Earth. The thrown together family now head off on a road trip and through the near two hour running time  you will be taken through a whole series of emotions in this beautiful film by director Miguel Sapochnik and a really smart, engaging sweet story by writers Craig Luck and Ivor Powell. 

Where do I start with the film? It looks beautiful and the choice of filming locations not only adds to the beauty of the film, but also to the toughness of nature. The film has a lovely score by Gustavo Santaolalla (he also created the scores for The Last of Us’ series of games), and of course there are the performances on screen. On screen Tom Hanks once again brilliantly pulls off a solo performance (given that the only things he interacts with are either robots or a dog) and some people may think back to his role in 2000’s Cast Away where he performed solo for the majority of the film, just as he does in Finch.  But lets not leave out Caleb Landry Jones, who was actually there on set (in stilts) performing the role of Jeff, before the visual effects took over of course, so whilst we do hear Caleb’s voice but dont see his face, Calebs work bringing to life the robotic Jeff will surely have been a huge plus for Tom Hanks whilst filming Finch and that pays off big time in screen especially during some wonderful dialogue ‘once upon a time’ sequences (dont worry, thats not a spoiler) 

Im also giving a huge shout out to Seamus, who is fantastic in the role of ‘Goodyear’ and yes I know some people might be giggling at the fact that ive done that, but you know what. Not enough animal actors get a shout out in film reviews. I did check to see what other films Seamus has been in and at the moment, He has no other credits but Im hoping that he does pop up in some films in the future. There are some scenes in the film that will give you that misty eye feeling and the one of the powers of film is that you can get emotional watching scenes between a human, a robot, a dog, and a tennis ball.   Gotta love movies!! I am definitely giving Finch both thumbs up and if you have Apple TV, do check it out, and if you dont have Apple TV then its worth getting to check this film out.