Fountain of Youth is streaming now on Apple TV+.
John Krasinski’s quest to copy all of Harrison Ford’s homework continues in Fountain of Youth, which sees Krasinski pivot from his role as Jack Ryan to that of a globetrotting, ancient artefact-hunting rascal. This time, though, he’s chosen poorly. While Fountain of Youth cribs from some of the very best treasure-tracking adventures Hollywood has ever had to offer, it struggles somewhat at every opportunity to demonstrate much imagination of its own.
As you’d expect from a movie that isn’t hiding its inspirations, the setup doesn’t contain a lot of surprises. When Luke Purdue (Krasinski) is conscripted by an Irish billionaire to uncover the whereabouts of the fabled Fountain, he soon crosses paths with his sister, Charlotte (Natalie Portman). Charlotte stepped away from the life of adventure she previously led alongside her brother and their father, Harrison (cough), to become a museum curator – but Luke’s self-serving stunts quickly see her swept up in the quest herself. It’s an adventure that moves at a rapid clip, from Thailand to the Celtic Sea, and London to Cairo – with a couple of other stops in between.
To its credit, Fountain of Youth gets off to a flying start, demonstrating an immediate and admirable commitment to practical stuntwork. An opening vehicle chase is very well executed, and director Guy Ritchie (of Snatch, Sherlock Holmes, and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare fame) follows it up by prodding Krasinski to leap onto a moving train. A second vehicle chase quickly follows within the first 15 minutes – this time featuring an immaculate AC Cobra 427 carving up London in a powerslide-peppered escape that would probably leave the ghost of Carroll Shelby grinning from ear to ear. “You underestimate my choice in cars,” Krasinski quips to his suitably ill-looking on-screen sister. Allow me to insist that I don’t, at least.
All of that leaves it feeling frontloaded, though, because Fountain of Youth’s weaknesses begin shortly afterwards. It simply loses steam as it settles into its formulaic groove. Krasinski cruises as Luke, who often comes off like a slightly more motivated (and slightly more horny) version of The Office’s Jim Halpert. That means he’s largely likeable, whenever he’s not outright bullying his sister into getting his own way. Portman is fine, too, even if the script compels her to be a lot more patient with the antics of her brother than I suspect most siblings would manage.
The remaining cast are generally squandered. Eiza González seems to be enjoying herself, but it’s a one-dimensional gig compared to her scene-stealing spy role in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The Star Wars sequels’ Domhnall Gleeson has a couple of neat moments, but he doesn’t really get to push the boat out much as the movie crescendos. The Penguin’s Carmen Ejogo and The Boys’ Laz Alonso are comprehensively wasted in sidekick stints and are asked to contribute very little, much to Fountain of Youth’s detriment.
Even the inimitable Stanley Tucci departs as quickly as he arrives. I guess it’s possible he’s being shelved for a sequel that may or not ever come. In that instance, Fountain of Youth fans can join the queue behind existing Guy Ritchie aficionados. (We’re easy to spot – we’re the ones carrying large signs looking for The Real RocknRolla.)
Screenwriter James Vanderbilt (known for Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man films, and Murder Mystery) has plundered the likes of Steven Spielberg’s unimpeachable Indiana Jones trilogy and Stephen Sommers’ legendary and much-loved The Mummy for all the parts he needed to assemble this story. The handsome rogue hero, a brother-sister duo – Fountain of Youth is playing the hits. It even has its own secret society of sworn protectors, because of what worth is any ancient knick knack if it doesn’t have its own Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword or Medjai keeping it safe from swarthy ne’er-do-wells?
A stop along the way that mines Vanderbilt’s own personal family history is a cute touch for those who’ve done their homework and are still paying attention after watching so many boxes get checked, and it comes amid another slick action sequence on an impressive and waterlogged practical set. You’ll just need to ignore the fact that it’s a brazen maritime crime for which our heroes face no consequences or even introspection. “We’re not grave robbers,” insists Portman in the moment. I guess it’s not stealing from a grave if you’re just… “borrowing” the whole grave?
The biggest problems with the Fountain of Youth, however, are the things it doesn’t steal. Primarily, for the vast bulk of the time there’s simply no clear villain. Unlike Indiana Jones or The Mummy there are neither Nazis nor supernatural nasties in the mix, and the plot suffers from a lack of tension as a result. They just have billions of dollars to burn, and a pretty loose deadline. Luke’s encounters with the group trying to get him to give up his search are not the same as Indy racing to discover the Holy Grail before Donovan and Vogel, or Rick O’Connell and his team hustling to Hamunaptra in time to stop Imhotep. Vanderbilt could’ve even cribbed a little from 2003’s treasure hunting buddy comedy The Rundown in this instance, which was buoyed throughout by a captivatingly cruel Christopher Walken. Vanderbilt co-wrote that himself, after all.
Conspicuously, there’s also a lack of any of the wonder of discovery that oozes from Indiana Jones himself, or from The Mummy’s Evelyn Carnahan. It doesn’t help that Luke and his team seem mostly content to simply let their computers try to solve the puzzles they encounter from the clues they glean along the way. I guess it’s indicative of how a lot of people are operating in 2025, including kids asking ChatGPT to do their homework for them, but it feels quite soulless to watch.
