Guy Richie has been a director who has literally done everything you can do as a director in Hollywood. He’s made crime films and family films, and now he’s made an adventure film. He’s worked with everybody you can think of in his career. He’s considered one of the most prolific directors. He literally puts out a new film or television series every year. His latest is an apple TV + movie called Fountain of Youth. A new adventure film on the level of National Treasure and to a lesser degree Indiana Jones.  It’s not on either of those series levels, though.

Luke Purdue (John Krasinski) is the son of a treasure hunter; he has a sister Charlotte (Natalie Portman) as well. They both live different lives separate from one another. One wants to be like their father, and the other one doesn’t.  The Krasinski character is in the middle of an adventure trying to find and subsequently decipher old paintings by six of the greatest painters of all time. He has everybody from Asian gangsters to secret guardians of the mystery and Interpol Inspectors trying to capture him and get their property back. Inadvertently, he involves his sister, who doesn’t want to be involved at all in his hairbrained scheme to find the Fountain of Youth. 

Krasinski ‘s character is bankrolled by an eccentric billionaire played by Dhomnall Gleeson, but he also has a couple of other teammates who used to work for his father, played by Carmen Ejogo, and Laz Alonso. Together, they are trying to piece together this centuries long mystery. Eiza Gonzalez and Arian Moayed play two people chasing them around the world. Stanley Tucci is in a smaller role, but he plays a key part in the end of the film. The cast of actors in this film is just another group who gets to witness firsthand the working stylings of Richie.

With adventure films, you know you’re going to get some action scenes. The movie starts right off with a chase sequence where Krasinski is on a moped and is being chased by gangsters. That was quite the exhilarating way to start the film off. Scenes involving sinking shipwrecks and fight scenes in old libraries followed that one. The final climactic action scenes are pretty crazy and create a nice conclusion to this historic themed adventure movie. They are as big or extraordinary as other action scenes in other films, but the work for this one, which is quite fine.

Richie normally works with British actors, but he’s worked with his share of American actors in his films before as well. His sense of humor and British genasaqua normally translate better with British actors.  Working with two main American actors in this movie doesn’t translate to what he does best as a director. His whip smart dialogue and fast-paced banter between characters is lost here. Both Krasinski and Portman try to give good performances,  but they are just too underwhelming for me. Maybe in another project, they’d work better, but this one, their bickering and banter didn’t work very well.

There is even a subplot involving mainly Portman’s character and her son, played by Benjamin Chewers.  She has a family domestic issue going on with her husband. This subplot is meant to garner sympathy for the two characters, but it’s just a distraction from the main plot of the movie. Kids are used two different ways in films like these. As bait and to get their parents to worry about them in one way or another. This kid gets lost in the shuffle, though. The film completely loses track of him in the context of the story and overall movie. There was no real point to having him here at all. Which means this subplot is completely unnecessary. 

I’m a fan of action adventure films that have a historical aspect to them. The DaVinci Code, the American Treasure films, and the Indiana Jones franchise are all some of my favorites. Richie seems to not have a grasp on this genre. Fountain of Youth has performances, and  big action set pieces that are all quite underwhelming in the context of what the movie is trying to be. It’s much smaller in scope than it should be. A lack of a budget might be the cause. Who knows? There is a genuine interest in making this something fans of the genre, actors, and the director would like , but it falls short of expectations I and I’m sure others had for it. This was very underwhelming, especially since there are so many talented people working on this movie.

2 stars

Dan Skip Allen