Apple TV+ hidden Tom Hanks sci-fi gem is like Cast Away meets Fallout – and I love it

Over the weekend just gone, having spent far too long endlessly scrolling through the best streaming services' latest movie offerings, I settled on a hidden gem in my Apple TV+ list. And I'm so glad I did, as this 2021 Apple Original Films production certainly flew under the radar for me.

Finch stars Tom Hanks, navigating his existence on a post-apocalyptic Earth, in a rare sci-fi appearance for the lead actor. Indeed, Hanks is more-or-less than only face on-screen throughout the movie – which reminded me of his other famed appearance in Cast Away (2000), albeit daubed with an essence of Fallout (the games or, indeed, the 2024 Amazon Prime series) given the movie's theme content.

Not that Finch is in any way as violent or hopeless as the latter. This family-friendly flick, produced by Stephen Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, touches upon so many things – from the fragility of the planet to the fragility of family, relationships and trust. It's often heart-warming stuff.

Finch does have a wider cast beyond Hanks' lead: his dog, Goodyear, and the robot that he creates to protect the hound once the increasing radiation poisoning he's got will take him from the world. Not your typical cast ensemble, when a dog named Seamus gets the second-place billing. 

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Finch, which was released on Apple TV+ back in 2021, is the perfect echo of the times in which it was released – when solitude was largely enforced worldwide – but also released at a time when Apple's streaming service just wasn't as popular nor as full of exclusives as it is today. I think that's part of the reason it flew under the radar for me – as a late subscriber. 

Saying that, Finch also didn't really resonate in critical terms. Its Rotten Tomatoes score sits at 74% at the time of writing, with the audience score a lower 68%. Not that the reviews aggregation site is the be-all and end-all of whether a movie is good or not – and I think it's well worth a watch for a nice heart-warming evening. Especially if you're a dog-lover.