I rewatched this having watched it once a long time ago; I remembered liking it quite a bit, and I still do, though perhaps my patience/illusionment with Bond films has waned quite a bit. The cast is great and the setting & plot is superb, but I couldn't help having two ornery thoughts, somewhat commingled:

• How is this thing two and a half hours long?
• Why do the action sequences need to be this long?

There's probably a taut, superior version of this movie that clocks in at a hundred minutes. But it's still the most vivid realization of what Bond movies are or can be (barring Skyfall's slightly meta turn).

★★★★