Tom Holland recently admitted he’s been having a pre-midlife crisis and may give up acting. If that’s the case, it would be a crying shame.
His new film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, is easily his best outing as Marvel’s web-slinger since he first arrived in Captain America: Civil War.
While he returned to help his fellow superheroes defeat the purple-headed, planet-crusher Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, he was one of many.
In his first two solo outings, 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, the adventures were fun but felt like they were building to something more significant.
No Way Home is exactly that.
The third Spidey movie to be directed by Jon Watts, it embraces the multiverse which, if you saw 2018 animated film, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, you’ll be familiar with – a world of infinite possibilities and parallel universes.
No Way Home takes that idea and runs – or should that be swings? – with it.
It picks up directly after its predecessor, when Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio revealed Spider-Man’s real identity: high school pupil Peter Parker.
His anonymity blown, Parker suddenly becomes “the most famous person in the entire world”, which might sound like fun but is anything but.
Lambasted by The Daily Bugle news site as a troublemaker, Parker’s exposure sees not only his life turned upside down, but that of his friends, girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best mate Ned (Jacob Batalon).
Their applications to study at MIT are all turned down because of the controversy, with many believing Parker was responsible for the death of Mysterio.
In desperation, he turns to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), the Sorcerer Supreme who joined Spider-Man and the rest of the Avengers in the battle against Thanos.
By comparison, Peter’s request is simple. He wants an incantation to ensure everyone forgets that he’s Spider-Man.
But just as Strange is conjuring the spell, Peter starts making requests, so that MJ, Ned and his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) will still know who he is.
Messing with the good Doctor’s magic is not advisable, and before he knows what is happening, there is a villain from an alternate dimension attacking him on a New York bridge wedged full of traffic.
The filmmakers requested no spoilers are revealed, so it might be easier to cease the synopsis here.
But while the trailer shows that this bridge-bashing foe is Doctor Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) – aka Doc Ock, who appeared in 2004’s Spider-Man 2 – suffice it to say, he’s not the only returning character from earlier iterations of your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.
All can be found on the internet if you look – this plot has not exactly been a closely guarded secret – but where’s the fun in that?
The script, by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, is an absolute riot, with myriad nods back to films that came outside the MCU but very much inside the Spider-Verse.
You’ll also find references to everything from Star Wars Lego to a certain classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
The writing is frequently funny, mining humour from the absolute chaos and confusion of characters colliding in this way.
Of course, any film that makes callbacks to previous generations could be accused of stunt-storytelling, but this a film that comes deeply embedded in the MCU.
As any fan will know, Marvel’s tapestry of stories is interwoven tighter than one of Spidey’s webs.
No Way Home feeds into the coming Doctor Strange sequel (the title Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a bit of a giveaway there. That it’s directed by Sam Raimi, who helmed the first three Spider-Man movies, starring Tobey Maguire, is also intriguing).
Yet No Way Home is more than just a gateway to another Marvel movie.
Holland’s performance is his most mature to date, as he realises he needs to sacrifice everything that’s dear to him to save the universe from fracturing.
That oft-quoted chestnut “with great power comes great responsibility” gets trotted out, but it’s more than just a slogan here, as Peter Parker tries to find the good in everyone.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
The visual effects are utterly splendid, notably the de-ageing techniques that have been used on Molina and others, far outstripping the work that was done on Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman just two years back.
A kaleidoscopic trip into the multiverse is also dazzling, with Watts and his supreme team of VFX wizards – every bit as magical as Doctor Strange – pulling off some truly wondrous tricks of their own.
As is customary now with Marvel, the film finishes with two post-credit stings – both of which feel like essential viewing as the Spider-Verse throws its web ever wider.
In a year of Dune, No Time to Die and Venom: Let there be Carnage, No Way Home might just have trumped them all. It’s this season’s blockbuster to beat.
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
The Farewell
Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Diana Lin, Tzi Ma
Four stars
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Tuesday results:
- Singapore bt Malaysia by 29 runs
- UAE bt Oman by 13 runs
- Hong Kong bt Nepal by 3 wickets
Final:
Thursday, UAE v Hong Kong
Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
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Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
