Fountain of Youth (2025)

Fountain of Youth (2025) doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t even inflate the tires. But it doesn’t burst them either, and in a genre flooded with big-budget, charisma-sapping clunkers, that might be faint praise—but it’s praise nonetheless. It’s a forgettable but harmless addition to Apple TV+’s action library, with just enough star power and personality from John Krasinski and Natalie Portman to make it mildly palatable.

‘Fountain of Youth’ Movie Review

Fountain of Youth isn’t good, but it’s not the disaster you might expect if you’ve been burned by recent globe-trotting action-adventure movies like Red Notice, Uncharted, or Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. In fact, its relative competence—and the natural chemistry between John Krasinski and Natalie Portman—gives it just enough charm to float above the genre’s usual sludge, even if it’s ultimately too shallow and overstuffed to leave any lasting impression.

Directed by Guy Ritchie, who’s had a wildly uneven run in the 2020s with films like The Covenant and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Fountain of Youth follows a familiar map: estranged siblings hunting for a mythical treasure while dodging competing villains and racing against time. Here, Krasinski plays Luke, a scrappy optimist whose love of adventure mirrors that of his late father. Portman’s Charlotte, by contrast, is a jaded realist in the midst of a custody battle, frustrated that their father’s obsession with the Fountain may have cost her stability—and now might again.

They’re joined by an ensemble that’s too large for the film’s own good. Domhnall Gleeson plays Owen, a terminally ill billionaire financing the expedition in a desperate bid for a cure. Longtime partners Murphy (Laz Alonso) and Deb (Carmen Ejogo) tag along, but are largely relegated to background noise. On the other side of the hunt, there’s Esme (Eiza González), a rival treasure hunter with unclear allegiances, and Interpol agent Jamal Abbas (Arian Moayed), who functions as a plot device more than a character. Stanley Tucci appears late as the Elder of the Protectors of the Path, delivering expository warnings about why the Fountain must remain hidden.

With this many moving parts, the film never quite finds a rhythm. Character development is sacrificed to make room for detours, subplots, and action sequences that rarely dazzle. Ritchie’s signature visual flair is muted here, and there’s little of the kinetic editing or inventive staging that marked his better efforts. The movie looks expensive, but feels flat—slick but soulless.

Still, Fountain of Youth does have one thing going for it: it’s marginally better than other streaming-first adventure movies. The banter between Krasinski and Portman isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s light and playful enough to keep things from sinking entirely. Unlike Ryan Reynolds in Red Notice or Chris Evans and Ana de Armas in Ghosted, Krasinski doesn’t oversell the charm, and that restraint actually works in his favor. His performance feels more lived-in, less like he’s angling for memes or brand synergy. Portman, meanwhile, brings a natural gravitas to a role that doesn’t deserve her—but she makes it watchable nonetheless.

There’s something almost admirable about how mid this movie is. It never tries to be more than it is, and that modesty—intentional or not—spares it from being as insufferable as other recent entries in this overcooked genre. The problem is, being “less bad” isn’t the same as being good. The plot is thin, the characters are thinner, and by the time the inevitable third-act betrayal rolls around, you’ll likely see it coming from miles away.

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Fountain of Youth doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t even inflate the tires. But it doesn’t burst them either, and in a genre flooded with big-budget, charisma-sapping clunkers, that might be faint praise—but it’s praise nonetheless. It’s a forgettable but harmless addition to Apple TV+’s action library, with just enough star power and personality to make it mildly palatable. Just don’t expect to remember much about it after the credits roll.

Score: 5/10