【英语听和读】皇家赌场

 Callum: Hello, I'm Robertson, Callum Robertson and this is entertainment. Today,

Casino Royale the new James Bond film; is it any good and what is Daniel

Craig like in his first performance as 007?

We'll hear the views of BBC film reviewer Mark Kermode and as I've seen it

myself you'll also hear what I think.

I was eagerly anticipating Casino Royale. I'm not a huge James Bond fan but

the prospect¹ of a new actor playing Bond and rumours² of a more realistic plot

made it an easy choice for cinema-going last weekend.

The problems with some of the previous Bond movies are that they became

rather fantastic and unbelievable. Fantasy stories of world domination and

ridiculous gadgets³ like invisible cars were a far cry from Ian Flemings original

spy novels of the 1950s and 60s. It was time for Bond to come back down to

earth and this is what Casino Royale does.

Casino Royale is the 21st Bond film but you have to forget all of the others.

The plot of this film takes place when James Bond is only starting out on his

career as 007.

His mission in the film is to win a game of cards which for financial reasons

will force his opponent in the game, a terrorist banker, to work for the secret

service and give them information about his terrorist clients. 

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James bond is famously 'licensed⁴ to kill' which means he has official

permission from the government to kill and in this film we see his first kills.

There are chases and fights, he gets hurt and tortured and even falls in love.

And in this film more than the others you do see Bond getting really hurt. His

face is cut and bruised⁵ after his fights and he even ends up having to use a

wheel chair in one scene after he has been tortured in a way that brings tear to

the eye of every man watching.

This is what BBC film reviewer Mark Kermode thinks is one of the best things

about this Bond film.

Mark Kermode

Actually for me the main achievement of this new Bond film is exactly that, you do feel it,

you do feel the pain, you do feel the batterings, you do feel the violence and in one lengthy⁶

sequence you do feel the torture. There is, as most people probably know by now a sequence

in it in which a naked James Bond is tortured for information which he being James Bond is

not going to give up. It's not played for camp laughs, it's played fairly straight, it's tough.

It is a movie in which people get battered⁷ about, they fall off cranes, they do all the James

Bond stuff but they actually get injured and centrally, Daniel Craig gets injured. I can't

remember a more battered looking Bond. I mean I think that Daniel Craig is great ….

Callum: Mark thinks Daniel Craig is great and feels that unusually for a Bond movie we

do feel the physical violence and its effects on James Bond's body.

The film isn't perfect though. It does have really blatant⁸ product placement.

Product placement, this is the term that describes when companies pay to have

their products in a film. So in this film everyone uses the same make of mobile

phone, Bond frequently uses a particular model of laptop computer and in all

cases the branding is clearly visible. In one scene Bond even says the kind of 

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watch he wears. Produce placement is part of many films these days, but I can't

remember seeing one is which it is so obvious.

This wasn't the only problem with the film though. Here's Mark Kermode again,

what criticism does he have of the film?

Mark Kermode

Well, I would say, my criticisms of the film are this, it is undoubtedly⁹ 20 minutes too long.

Towards the end, in the latter section it did really start to sag¹⁰ for me, and also I have to say I

was slightly less than interested by the love interest.

Callum: So Mark felt the film could have been shorter and for him the love story didn't

really work. He said towards the end the film started to sag, to sag, to slow

down too much.

Casino Royale has many of the features of traditional bond films, beautiful

women, fast cars, chases and fights but it uses those features in a tougher way.

Bond is a real person, he can be hurt physically¹¹ and emotionally.

It's not a great spy film, spies could never really work in the way James Bond

does, but it is a great Bond film with a fine performance from Daniel Craig.

He's tough and mean but also vulnerable, he can be hurt.

So if you like Bond at all, then I can certainly recommend this film. You won’t

be disappointed.

That's all from this edition of Entertainment. 

1 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

2 rumours   

n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传

参考例句：

• The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。
• Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。

3 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

4 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

5 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

6 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

7 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

8 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

9 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

10 sag   

v.下垂，下跌，消沉；n.下垂，下跌，凹陷，[航海]随风漂流

参考例句：

• The shelf was beginning to sag beneath the weight of the books upon it.书架在书的重压下渐渐下弯。
• We need to do something about the sag.我们须把下沉的地方修整一下。

11 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。