Fountain of Youth
By Sioph W. Leal
Estranged siblings Charlotte (Natlie Portman) and Luke Purdue (John Krasinski) partner up on a global adventure-heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth and must follow clues revealed by their knowledge of history in an adventure that will change their lives and possibly bring them immortality.
Any adventure that involves globe trotting and treasure hunting is an easy sell with many movies, book series and games dedicating a lot of material to this genre and with a cast as packed as this, Fountain of Youth was set to be a great movie with a lot of fun. With Guy Ritchie at the helm as director, it seemed like another movie where he branches out from the foul-mouthed quips and carnage. Of course, he has branched out before with The Covenant, Aladdin and The Man from U.N.C.L.E so it’s always interesting to see what he will do when he approaches a new genre that he's not typically known for. This time, it's Ritchie’s first movie for streaming.
Heist movies are fun, and Fountain of Youth follows the typical formula of the genre but with a surprising hopeful vibe to it that helps it doesn't take itself too seriously that makes it much easier to enjoy. It’s an old-school adventure movie but the only way it's really let down in this sense is that it does everything to present itself as timeless but comes off as very much present-day which is clearly not what the filmmakers want. The plot is decent, neither good nor bad but is fun and doesn’t break from the formulaic style at all but that’s okay. The familiar feeling this creates helps the movie and fast becomes something good that all will be able to enjoy. That it can be silly sometimes just makes it all the more fun especially when the movie leans into this aspect.
It seems there will be sequels teased at the end and while Fountain of Youth is not as strong as classic movies in the same genre that it tries to emulate, it’s a good and entertaining watch. It gives off that it’s trying to have the same vibe as The Mummy and, obviously, Indianna Jones which it does in a sense but never fails to reach. It’s still a fun movie and a good watch but Krasinski lacks the draw or roguish charm that could have been a great addition to the movie. Thankfully, the other cast shine and make up for this.