The Fountain of Youth is Man Ritchie’s newest international treasure hunt film that’s one half Uncharted, one half Nationwide Treasure and all components unhealthy. Centred round a brother/sister pairing; washed up treasure hunter John Krasinski is compelled to work along with museum sellout Natalie Portman to guard their father’s legacy by discovering the legendary fountain of youth. It’s Ritchie in autopilot; missing the aptitude of his 90s British gangster movies and even the latest blockbuster work like The Man from UNCLE and The Gents. It simply feels uninteresting – from the beginning; and that’s largely as a result of casting – Krasinski has destructive chemistry with anybody that he is concerned with and him and Portman don’t really feel plausible as brother/sister.
The plot twists are too predictable and you recognize what’s coming a mile off; the situation scavenger hunts are uninteresting and a means for Ritchie to throw Apple’s tens of millions up the wall – that is Apple displaying how a lot cash they’ve once more by getting an Oasis needle drop and utilizing it in probably the most eye-rollingly means potential on the finish credit. It’s uninteresting. It’s flat. It’s cliché – each a part of that is stolen from higher films and higher video video games; there are set-pieces straight from Uncharted. The characters have probably the most threadbare characterisation – there’s a gifted child musical prodigy – why is he there, actually? No person is aware of – and no actual character arc is finished with him – Portman is diminished to telling Krasinski that he’s improper the entire time and Krasinski then lastly admits that he’s improper. The film makes an attempt to drive a enemies-to-lovers romance between Krasinski and Eiza Gonzalez; who performs a personality intent on stopping Krasinski from discovering the fountain of youth – however Krasinski comes off as creepy greater than charming of their preliminary encounter and for some motive, Stanley Tucci is there for 5 seconds? The plot looks like a torture to get via. It begs the query – why was Krasinski ever allowed to flee past The Workplace and switch right into a film star within the first place?
At finest; he’s miscast right here. A rugged glory hunter – Luke Purdue isn’t any Indiana Jones – not convincing when he’s the assshole and never charming sufficient to look enthusiastic when coming head to head with the legendary fountain of youth about it being; the legendary fountain of youth. The dynamic between Krasinski and Portman is threadbare at finest – Domhnall Gleeson barely registers as a dying billionaire on the lookout for the Fountain; and the movie simply turns into uninteresting – there’s no sense of journey; no sense of gravitas – no actual threat or daring that the Indiana Jones films had – Ritchie’s camerawork is secure, formulaic and predictable. Every little thing seems to be previous and drained earlier than it even arrives on display – and it’s arguably; the weakest Ritchie film thus far. Which – after Aladdin, is saying one thing. With dozens of television reveals within the works – perhaps he’s stretched too skinny?
