Early reviews of Furious 7, which features key scenes filmed in Abu Dhabi, are in. Here are seven things we learnt from them
1. The “virtual Paul Walker” bits work
The biggest problem Furious 7 faced was the death of Paul Walker – along with Vin Diesel one of the franchise's two main stars – in a off-set car crash during filming. The decision to finish the movie was both brave and technically challenging – Walker's brothers acted as stand-ins, with his face digitally pasted onto their bodies. Director Justin Lin also recycled cut footage from previous Fast and Furious movies. Variety notes that "although there are moments [where Walker] is conspicuously filmed from behind or with his face obscured, for most of the time Walker is on screen, it's nigh impossible to tell whether he is fully real or partly virtual." The Hollywood Reporter call it a "technical miracle".
2. Abu Dhabi is a major highlight
Of course, Furious 7 was partly filmed in the heart of the capital, and it's gratifying to note the scenes in Abu Dhabi provide some of the highlights of the movie – "so much fun", according to comingsoon.net. A car chase that begins inside an Etihad Towers penthouse and ends in a neighbouring skyscraper without the wheels ever touching the ground is, says The Hollywood Reporter, the reason people will see the film. The same scene is called "ridiculous but highly entertaining" by Variety – although as The National reported this week, the maths prove the stunt is just about possible.
3. The story is as ridiculous as ever...
Narrative isn't exactly the Fast and the Furious franchise's strong point – and comingsoon.net call this latest instalment 'ridiculous'. But for the record, the story is that Jason Statham's character, Deckard Shaw, is a bit cross with Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Walker) and Luke (Dwayne Johnson) for what the crew did to his brother (it involved falling out of an airplane). So the crew decide to try to make a pre-emptive strike on Deckard, with the help of Mr Nobody (Kurt Russell) - who, as luck would have it, needs a car-based favour doing. As Variety says, "things manage to get even more complicated from there – perhaps a bit too much – in a story that hopscotches to Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi before finally ending up back in LA". Cool cars, though.
4. ... but it’s a fitting memorial to Paul Walker
Furious 7 was rewritten after Walker's death, so there's a grim sport to be had in predicting which overblown stunt will end in his character Brian O'Conner's heroic demise. Suffice it to say, he survives longer than one might imagine. The Playlist worries that there is a sombre mood cloaking the film that "dangles the question of Walker's character's fate and pays tribute to his memory at the same time". Still there's a sense that Furious 7 is the film Walker "would have wanted". Variety says it's the "ultimate compliment to say that he plays each moment as though it were his last ... when the time does come for Brian O'Conner to bid adieu, the movie arranges it in a way that feels fully earned and well within the boundaries of good taste."
5. The new director has slotted in well
James Wan made his name in horror movies and he may have thought he was indeed in the middle of a real-life nightmare when his leading man died. But his efforts in taking over the directorial chair from Justin Lin have generally been considered successful. He maintains what The Playlist memorably calls "the powerfully stupid spectacle and winning melodrama" that is a Fast and the Furious movie, although Variety were surprised that a man who has built a reputation for old-school analogue frights, in films such as Insidious, "gooses his setpieces with too much CGI." The Playlist also points out that the narrative, such as it is, "is just connective tissue lifting the action sequences up, and Wan both delivers and completely ODs in that regard".
6. The general consensus is ... thumbs up
Let's be honest, this franchise is never going to win an Oscar for best movie. But the general feeling is that Furious 7 does deliver on what it sets out to do: namely, as comingsoon.net put it, making a movie that "falls somewhere between Mission: Impossible and a video game full of side missions". But, they add: "Furious 7 knows its audience and delivers exactly what they want, including an exciting last act with a huge pay-off." The Playlist's praise is slightly more hard won - "cacophonous, gratuitous and peppered with absolutely outstanding action sequences", they say – while Variety was won over, trumpeting that "it's hard to think of another contemporary film series that has run this long while continuing to afford so much pleasure". Er, have they not heard of James Bond?
7. The future for the franchise looks bright
Understandably, the prospects for a Furious 8 initially looked decidedly shakey after Walker's death. The Playlist say the film "felt like an ending", and one of the characters even says "it won't be the same going forward". But Variety is more hopeful. "Even a Walker-less Team Furious still has plenty of gas left in the tank", it decides - while comingsoon.net speculates that Dwayne Johnson's brilliantly OTT Hobbs character might get his own spin-off movie. As always, the final decision about Furious 8 is likely to hang on the box-office success of Furious 7 ... and with talking-point stunts like the ones in Abu Dhabi, it's unlikely to bomb, is it?
artslife@thenational.ae
• Check out tomorrow's Arts&Life as we speak to the extras, cast and crew who worked on the dramatic Furious 7 scenes filmed in Abu Dhabi
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AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
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From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
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if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
Business Insights
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- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Sui Dhaaga: Made in India
Director: Sharat Katariya
Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav
3.5/5
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
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Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
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