L'eterna giovinezza

Great cast fantastic director interesting premise and a boat load of cash and you get a mediocre movie that had so much and delivers so little.

Guy Ritchie is in my opinion one of the finest british directors of my age and he has made some great modern classics from snatch and lockstock to his lesser works like ruse de gare. I would always have said even If I didn't like the film he stayed true to his aesthetic and put his whole into his art: this I hope is the exception that proves the rule.

A mash of all the best parts of the great adventure treasure hunt films of the past from Indiana Jones to national treasure there is a bit of all the best mixed up and ruined in a obviously expensive project. The end result is heartless and dull it feels like the studio may have interfered in the production but whatever the end result just left me sad and ambivolent.

How is this the same writer who wrote Zodiac??? The writing in Fountain of Youth was brutally cliche and soulless and derivative. So I'm praying Apple didn't do something idiotic like get some AI input or something, because that's what it felt like - painfully so at times.

The actors did the best they could with the script, and I LOVE that this is a non-franchise, non-reboot, original story. So a huge bravo for that, but the writing was just a constant distraction.

Guy Richie is Guy Richie, and I can see why he's a safe choice for film execs, but damn- this film is a good example of needing to raise the bar. Krasinski and Portman give it their all, but I felt bad for them having to deal with these characters and the painfully awkward dialogue.

If you had seen a movie and a half about adventure and old artifacts in the past, or played a similar video game, you know what this movie is about. In about 10 minutes through, you will figure it out..the plot, the bad guy etc. That is not the problem. We watch these movies time and time again for the fun ride, the amount of historical nonsense they can cram through while keeping that entertaining. Sense be damned.

What kept most of these movies fun, are the charm, the cheese, the quirks here and there, fun characters, great locations and action. Those often overlapped sense, character depth and meaning. This movie does not lack on the visuals and actions, it lacks in the former 3. I don't know. It felt too clean and devoid of pleasantries that attract you toward a popcorn adventure flick. It is just..too linear.

Perhaps they wanted to be different, or maybe they did not want to offend someone. I can't believe a Guy Ritchie movie could ever unfunny specially when it's meant to have comedic elements. Ah well, whatever the reason, it was in fact, a mistake. 6/10 for pretty people and locations.

No, it's not National treasure 3, in fact it doesn't come that near to being as good as the first 2 National Treasure movies.

However I've seen much worse and it was still quiet enjoyable.

For me not enough of the puzzles and riddles from other films of this ilk and a lot left unexplained.

The film does have Guy Ritchie's style and flair all over it and the efforts of all actors are definitely not in question here. I think maybe this film needed a couple more rewrites before going ahead.

On the whole though, if you have 2 hours to spare and nothing to do.....give it a go.

Alternatively wait and hope for "National Treasure 3"

I knew for the trailer that this film was going to be a bit generic but I suppose I was hoping it wouldn't be that generic. As someone who grew up on Indiana Jones, loves Uncharted and has a soft spot for National Treasure this felt very familiar but not in a knowing way because there's nothing this movie does with the established formula that feels remotely unique. Guy Ritchie doesn't bring any of his signature energy to this movie and it's starting to feel like his tendency to put out as many films as possible over the last few years is starting to come back to bite him. Fountain of Youth just feels flat in every way and it ends up feeling like something made for streaming. John Krasinski's a badass and Natalie Portman is charming but it kind of just feels like the script is trying too hard to make them overly likeable and it actually felt a bit annoying after a while. The film starts out a quick pace but starts to drag on in the second half and the climax in particular was a bit of a slog to get through. There's a lot of talented people involved in this movie but I'm not really sure what drew them to it in the first place. It just oozes mediocrity and as someone who's a big Guy Ritchie fan I'd like to see him get a bit more selective with his projects.