FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

Fountain of Youth echoes the grand adventure films of beloved film genre, but not even director Guy Ritchie and a leading trio of John Krasinski, Natalie Portman and Eiza González is enough to energize a lacklustre screenplay that never for a second captures the magic, danger and excitement of searching for hidden mythical and powerful artifacts.

Many adventurers in cinema have sought mythical artifacts that promise healing powers and everlasting life, from Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to Captain Jack Sparrow seeking the Fountain of Youth in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and it is time for Guy Ritchie to embark on his own treasure hunt of this kind. Known for stylistic and entertaining films ranging from British gangster films like Snatch and The Gentlemen, blockbusters like Aladdin and Sherlock Holmes, and smaller action films like The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Ritchie knows how to conjure up big screen magic no matter the genre. Making the jump to the classic treasure hunt adventure seemed like a perfect fit for Ritchie, especially armed with a talented cast led by John Krasinski, Natalie Portman and Eiza González, and it seemed like a sure fire streaming hit for AppleTV+. But sadly, Fountain of Youth ends up being a rare misfire for Ritchie’s career with a film that is void of any of his signature style, features uninspired writing and above all else, a sadly lacklustre adventure with little entertainment value.

Searching for lost treasure and artifacts is supposed to be fun and exciting, leading to swashbuckling, globetrotting adventures. And while Fountain of Youth checks all the boxes of what is narratively required for this type of film, it is missing any sense of wonder and excitement. There are some action sequences throughout the film that have Luke and Charlotte facing off against forces trying to stop them from finding the Fountain of Youth, but aside from the fun museum fight between Luke and Esme which is easily the best scene of the film, the majority of them feel lifeless and never conjure up the entertainment value they should. The treasure hunt itself is not as interesting as it should be, offering little historical backstory to the Fountain of Youth to develop the story, nor are the clues that lead to the reveal of its resting place all that intriguing or original. By the time the film gets to the third act “descent into the temple” as our heroes close in on the Fountain of Youth, there are some moments where you can see the love for this adventure story starting to break through the muddle, but when the entirety of the film’s climax feels like a soulless rip-off of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it’s hard to get all that invested in the story’s outcome. This is all the more surprising given that the film was written by James Vanderbilt who wrote David Fincher’s Zodiac, blockbuster films like The Amazing Spider-Man, White House Down, and co-wrote the latest two Scream films, as that is a resume of good films that know how to entertain and balance humour with action and excitement when required, as Fountain of Youth is a lifeless experiment in a poor paint by numbers treasure hunt narrative that struggles to do what Vanderbilt accomplished many times before with his writing.

The majority of the shortcomings of Fountain of Youth can be placed on its story, which is lacking where it counts, leaving the cast very little material to work with. Krasinski is woefully miscast as our lead expeditioner Luke Purdue. While the character is written to be reminiscent of Indiana Jones, there is a heavy comedic aspect of it that feels like the character was written to emulate Ryan Reynolds’ style of humour, and that is not in Krasinski’s wheelhouse. Even though he has the gravitas to be both the intelligent intellect hunting for treasure and the action star, the heavy emphasis on this style of comedy is not something Krasinski has the chops for, making his character come across as rather annoying for the majority of the film and resulting in one of the worst casting choices of the year so far. Portman is fine as Luke’s sister Charlotte, and while it feels like she is playing the same character that she often plays in these blockbuster style films, it’s just nice to see Portman back on screen. She’s at her best when playing out the bickering sibling dynamic with Krasinski, where his comedic chops play well off of her, creating some fun moments where you can see the potential that Krasinski and Portman had when given the proper writing to build their performances around. González is given a Terminator-esque role of hunting down Krasinski’s Luke, first flirting with him before trying to prevent his quest to find the Fountain of Youth from progressing. She is great in her scenes, possessing that natural charm, beauty and deadliness to bring Esme to life, but it's such an underdeveloped role that leaves González’s talents largely untapped. As for Domhnall Gleeson, Stanley Tucci, Carmen Ejogo, Arian Moayed, and Laz Alonso, the screenplay doesn’t even bother to give them anything of note to do, making it a chore to remember their characters’ names for the majority of the film.

Given it’s a Ritchie production, it is not surprising that the film has some strong technical aspects. As with all of his films, the sets and costumes are excellent, creating a strong world for the story to unfold in that is bursting with colour and history. Especially in the third act as the hunt for the Fountain of Youth reaches its climax, the entire set design of the temple and the puzzles that need to be solved to get to its location offer up everything viewers could want from such a film. But sadly, the strong technicals end there. While his films often have a great use of music, the musical score from Christopher Benstead is unremarkable at best, failing to energize the adventure at any point. And most glaringly is the lack of Ritchie’s style anywhere in the film. Known for slow motion action sequences, quick editing with multiple moments playing out over top of each other, and a slick execution, you can’t feel Ritchie’s touch anywhere in the film that truly begs the question: was he on set for this film or directing from afar with his team running the show on the ground.

The saying is that some treasures should remain buried, and the same can be said for some stories. While Guy Ritchie and his team try to bring back the grand adventure movie genre with a search for the fabled Fountain of Youth, a soulless story and woefully miscast John Krasinski ensures that there is little treasure to be found in this film. While Natalie Portman delivers solid work as always and the set design showcases that no expense was wasted by Apple in creating this globe trotting treasure hunt, Fountain of Youth is a rare misfire for director Guy Ritchie whose energetic and signature style is sadly missing throughout the film that instead feels like a hollow imitation of beloved adventure films that not even the pairing of John Krasinski, Natalie Portman and Eiza Gonzalez can salvage.