David Farnor | On 23, May 2025

Director: Guy Ritchie
Cast: John Krasinski, Natalie Portman, Eiza Gonzalez, Domhnall Gleeson, Carmen Ejogo, Arian Moayed, Stanley Tucci, Benjamin Chivers
Certificate: 12

Life is about the adventure, not the destination. That’s the philosophy by which Luke Purdue (John Krasinski) lives his life. He inherited it from his father, a renowned treasure-hunter, along with his passion for tracking down rare artefacts. His sister, Charlotte Purdue (Natalie Portman), has outgrown that motto, having settled down and started a family. So it’s only fitting that when we’re introduced to them both, he’s fleeing Bangkok with a stolen painting, while she’s fighting for custody of her son, Thomas (Benjamin Chivers), with her soon-to-be-divorced husband. Neither of them think much of each other’s life choices.

They’re thrown together, though, by Luke’s latest quest: to track down the mythical Fountain of Youth. Not for himself, you understand, but at the behest of billionaire Owen Carver (Domhnall Gleeson), who is dying of cancer. Barging into Charlotte’s workplace, he upends her career, puts them both on Interpol’s watchlist and leaves her hopes of having custody of Thomas in tatters. So far, so good – and Natalie Portman and John Krasinski have crackling sibling chemistry as they tear verbal chunks out of each other on a plane.

It’s a shame, then, that the script – by James Vanderbilt – sacrifices any sense of their relationship in favour of a globe-trotting romp, with Charlotte and Thomas both gamely going along with Luke for reasons that are never really clear. How much that misstep impacts your enjoyment of what ensues will vary depending on your fondness for sub-Indiana Jones blockbusting. In a genre that’s had a number of contenders in recent years – none of them ever topping 1999’s The Mummy – this is a worthy enough outing, with some enjoyably far-fetched clue-spotting and a spectacular pyramid-based climax.

Guy Ritchie is no stranger to big-budget action, and he wrangles set pieces here at a consistently fast pace, spinning cameras for the fun of it without things becoming disorientated. He also keeps things satisfyingly practical, from a punch-up in a Vienna library to a motorbike chase that leads to a cute train altercation.

The cast, meanwhile, bring charisma to spare, with Krasinski wise-cracking his way through each dust-up and the always-excellent Domhnall Gleeson bringing unexpected depths to his wealthy benefactor. Portman is great as the stern, disapproving sister, but isn’t helped by her inconsistent character’s motivations. And so it is that Eiza Gonzalez ends up stealing the show as the enigmatic Esme, who is pursuing Luke to try and stop him – that their chemistry ends up the real star of the show suggests the direction the script maybe should have gone in.

The result is uneven and occasionally frustrating, but never dull. One inspired un-sunken ship idea, fascinatingly, appears to be rooted in James Vanderbilt’s own family history – his great-grandfather died on the RMS Lusitania in 1915. If that same level of passion and ingenuity were maintained throughout Fountain of Youth, it could have landed in a more memorable place. But for a caper that prioritises the journey over the destination, it’s perhaps fitting that the end result is less impressive than the fun it takes to get there.

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