FINCH

The film opens in the post-apocalyptic ruins of St. Louis. Finch Weinberg (Tom Hanks) and his homemade robot Dewey travel to the store for supplies. They encounter a brief burst of wind and sand, but Finch manages to hide before he gets what he needs. As he drives home, a huge sandstorm heads his way. He and Dewey make it back inside quickly and safely.

Finch is a former robotics engineer who has sustained himself and his dog Goodyear underground since a solar flare destroyed the ozone layer and wiped out most of Earth’s population due to extreme radiation exposure and intense weather. Finch is also dying of what is most likely radiation poisoning and is looking for a solution to care for Goodyear when he is gone.

Finch puts the finishing touches on a robot he is building. After a couple of rough starts, the robot begins to nod in response to Finch’s words and develops a stifled speech of its own (voice of Caleb Landry Jones). Finch is proud of his work, but Goodyear reacts less than pleasantly toward the robot. It expresses the knowledge that Finch has embedded in it, as he has given it more than an encyclopedia’s worth of information.

As Finch goes to check on some weather-related tech, he sees an enormous storm cloud heading his way. He connects the robot to a weather station, where it determines that there will be an incoming superstorm that will last 40 days, and Finch knows that the facility cannot sustain him or Goodyear for that long, so he gathers Goodyear, the robots, and his belongings in an RV to head out. He resolves that the only preferable option is San Francisco to avoid other people who might try and attack them.

On the road, Finch tries to continue programming the robot since its data transfer wasn’t complete before they had to evacuate. They break into an old movie theater where Finch shows the robot how to make popcorn. Later, they must tether the RV to the ground as a tornado approaches. They take cover inside as it passes. After all has settled by the night time, the robot tells Finch he wants to be called Jeff.

Finch continues the trip with Jeff and Goodyear the next morning. Jeff tries to learn how to better interact with Goodyear, but his attempts both amuse and annoy Finch. At one point, Finch must rest because his illness is too much for him, and Jeff nearly causes the RV to drive by itself. When they rest at night, Jeff asks Finch why they don’t travel at night, and he explains that they may encounter survivors that might try to kill them.

In the morning, Jeff finds Finch violently throwing up. Goodyear takes notice as Jeff cares for Finch, and he even takes the wheel of the RV since Finch has been teaching him to drive. While Finch rests, Jeff goes into a store with Dewey. Finch gets up and gets his suit on to go after them. Jeff’s meddling causes Dewey to get caught in a bear trap that destroys the little bot. Finch is devastated by Dewey’s loss and he yells at Jeff.

At night, Finch notices that they are being followed by another car. Per Finch’s instructions, Jeff drives the RV under a bridge, but the vehicle is too high and breaks off at the top. Finch and Jeff push the vehicle further and wait until the survivors leave. Finch tells Jeff how the survivors would fight and scavenge for anything they could find when things got really bad at the start of the apocalypse. He recalls a time being in a supermarket where he was looking for food, but he spotted a mother and her child there as well, and the mother had instructed the daughter to shoot anyone she sees. A man in a truck approached them them, leading to him killing the mom and girl. After the man left, Finch went over and found Goodyear as a puppy in the girl’s backpack, and he made sure to look after him ever since.

Finch and Jeff continue in the morning and reach a location where the UV radiation levels are low and non-threatening. Finch stops to go outside and take in the sun for the first time in years. He puts on a nice suit and sits outside with Jeff, telling him another story about his father this time. Jeff views Finch as a father to him. Finch shows Jeff how to play fetch with Goodyear, but Finch starts coughing up blood moments later. He goes into the RV and rests where he dies in his sleep.

Jeff gives Finch a funeral and sits wondering out loud what the next move should be. By now, his speech has improved greatly to the point where he sounds non-robotic and actually human. He resolves to continue Finch’s journey to San Francisco.

Jeff drives himself and Goodyear to the Golden Gate Bridge. They find other pictures from survivors giving out their locations for where to find them. Jeff places a drawing of himself with Finch and Goodyear, and he walks with the dog into the city to look for the good survivors.