Apple TV+’s ‘Fountain of Youth’ Owes ‘Indiana Jones’ Some Money For Being A Blatant Rip-Off
Read the following aloud: Directed by Guy Ritchie. Written by Matthew Vanderbilt. Starring John Krasinski and Natalie Portman. Released on Apple TV+?!
Yeah, that last bit feels off, doesn’t it? Everything before it screams blockbuster material, but here is Fountain of Youth going straight to streaming. As it turns out, this action-adventure spectacle has all the right pieces, but it’s yet another example of Hollywood chasing its own Holy Grail: the next Indiana Jones franchise.
What is ‘Fountain of Youth’ about?
John Krasinski plays Luke Pardue, an archaeologist’s son who chases after rare items – often taking them out of the hands of other people with or without their consent. He’s hired by the rich but ailing businessman Owen Carver (Domhnall Gleeson) for a new mission: to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. Luke and his crew rope in the help of his reluctant sister, Charlotte (Natalie Portman), as they gather the necessary clues and travel across the globe to find this life-changing discovery. At the same time, they encounter the mysterious Esme (Eiza González), who does everything in her power to keep them away from finding the Fountain.
John Krasinski is no Indiana Jones, but he is Jim Halpert here
Does John Krasinski ever wonder why he can’t shake off the ghost of Jim Halpert and secure bigger roles in Hollywood? Well, he should really stop playing the same version of the character then. In Fountain of Youth, Luke is supposed to be a fearless adventurer and big dreamer, but he still comes across like the guy who’ll staple Dwight’s tie to the table for a gag. It’s almost as if Krasinski can’t help but reset himself to default mode when on screen, because there were more than a few times when he winked at the other characters and performed awkward flirting – just like Jim. At one point, you wonder if the scene will cut to just him speaking to the camera like in The Office.
It’s more than obvious that Luke is a character inspired by Indiana Jones, but Krasinski was likely told to not play him that way. So, instead of portraying the sarcastic and self-assured adventurer who laughs in the face of danger, Krasinski plays Jim playing the sarcastic and self-assured adventurer who laughs in the face of danger. C’mon – everyone sees exactly who this character is, and everything else (from the plot to the final act) has already been nicked from the Indiana Jones series, so why not go the full way and turn him into an Indy clone?
The film’s greatest sin is that it’s safe
A user review called Fountain of Youth a boring episode of Dora the Explorer, and it isn’t too far off from the truth. It’s as paint-by-the-numbers as it comes, with almost every single sequence feeling like someone asked AI to write an action-adventure script based on the highest-grossings films of the genre from the past 50 years. What gets spat out is a story with all the expected bits and bobs, but oh boy, this is more soulless than the average tech company. It’s the wet dream of every studio exec who thinks films should be made using data, not creativity.
It’s surprising, especially when you take into consideration who’s behind the camera: Guy Ritchie. This is the man who practically invented his own genre of mob movies and delivered some of the most unique films in cinema history. Yes, he’s switched lanes a few times, but even when it hasn’t always worked (see: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), he’s never made a boring film. Where’s the bite of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the dripping humor of The Gentlemen, or the swagger of Wrath of Man? Fountain of Youth contains hardly anything reminiscent of Ritchie’s signature style, almost as if he filmed this movie with the threat he would only be able to see his family once it’s completed in the manner he’s told to do it. Honestly, this could have been made by a studio-friendly director like Shawn Levy and no one would have known the difference.
This movie is just another clone
Indiana Jones, The Mummy, National Treasure… All are obvious inspirations in Fountain of Youth, as the film tries to appeal to the four quadrants of the audience. While it is far from unwatchable, it’s cookie-cutter to the core. It doesn’t only wear its influences on its sleeves; it puts them into its script, characterizations, and set pieces. Yet again, Fountain of Youth serves as a harrowing reminder of the dearth of creativity in Hollywood right now. Rather than gamble and make something new, the execs keep chasing the Sun and trying to find the next Indiana Jones, Star Wars, or whatever. The problem is that it’s so blatant and unabashed that it comes across as a knockoff – and everyone sees it. Really.
