SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives away the Fountain of Youth ending in explicit detail. If you have not yet seen the new 2025 movie and you continue to read on, make sure that you have chosen wisely.
When I first put on my Apple TV+ subscription to watch Fountain of Youth, I wondered why this new Guy Ritchie movie, following a quest for the mythological water spring, did not receive a theatrical release. However, it eventually became clear to me that this relatively generic flick was always destined for streaming.
Now, I will not disagree that Fountain of Youth is a fun movie worth checking out if you love family-friendly action-adventure stories, but I hate to admit that I became a little bored by its glaring and even tiresome similarities to other films in that category. Of course, that boredom turned into being straight-up pissed off by its final act, which is not just familiar but a shameless rip-off of the ending of one of the most beloved films this movie is clearly inspired by. As a lifelong fan of the Indiana Jones movies, I have to express this frustration.
It’s Basically The Ending Of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
The Fountain of Youth ending brings the story to the Pyramids of Giza, where heroic explorer Luke Purdue (John Krasinski) discovers Owen Carver (Domhnall Gleeson), the man who hired him in the first place, has impure intentions with the titular spring. When they locate it, Carver makes Luke test its healing power on himself, but he ends up choosing not to drink it in favor of keeping his sister, Charlotte (Natalie Portman), and nephew, Thomas (Benjamin Chiver), alive. However, Owen indulges in the fountain’s waters, which causes him to age rapidly until he becomes a shriveled mess and dies.
Now, all I would need to do is amend a couple of details and replace the characters’ names and the paragraph above would be a perfect description for the conclusion of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The 1989 threequel ends with the titular archaeologist (played by Harrison Ford) using the Holy Grail to save his father (played by Sean Connery) after the villainous Walter Donovan (Julian Glover), who commissioned Indy to find the artifact for selfish purposes, drinks from what he assumes is the real Grail. Of course, it causes him to experience a bitter end, having “chosen poorly.”
You know what else I think was a poor choice? Trying to pass off a scene that is glaringly similar to this iconic movie moment as the ending of Fountain of Youth.
There Is Nothing Wrong With An Action-Adventure Homage, But…
Look, do not get me wrong. I recognize and even appreciate how Fountain of Youth, essentially, attempts to be a modern-day Indiana Jones adventure. Hell, even those classic action films were conceived as tributes to adventure serials from the 1930s and 1940s, and some of their most legendary moments are borrowed almost directly from those cliffhangers.
However, these days, you can only borrow so much from what inspires you before you run the risk of being seen as creatively bankrupt or, to be frank, a blatant plagiarist. Not to mention, if you want your homage to stand out from its predecessors or simply be a memorable experience on its own, it is crucial that your story reaches a conclusion that feels somewhat original. Considering how strikingly similar its ending was to Last Crusade, I consider FOY a failure in that regard.
All things considered, I have heard enough positive feedback to recommend that you stream the Krasinski/Portman movie on Apple TV+ to see if you enjoy it more than I and, perhaps, believe it stealing from Last Crusade is insignificant. In fact, I would be even open to a Fountain of Youth sequel, as long as it doesn’t end with Luke losing possession of a prized possession to “top men,” returning a mystical stone to a grieving village, or something along those lines.
