A synthesis of classic Bond movies

Rating: 8/10 (28 October 2015)

SPECTRE takes all the drama and style of 1960s Bond movies, plus the laughs of the 1970s Bond movies, and distills them into a powerful hit of 007 fun. This movie is crack for Bond addicts.
SPECTRE (the organisation) is finally back in the James Bond franchise after 40+ years away, and SPECTRE (the movie) really is a joy for fans of old school Bond, because it's all there; the HUGE scale of some epic action and stunt scenes, throwbacks to iconic moments (such as SPECTRE operatives gathered around a loooong meeting table, or the funeral from "Thunderball", and MUCH more but that would go into spoiler territory...), Q brings the gadgets plus some really funny moments, there are lots of references and inspirations drawn from the 007 books (from "The Hildebrand Rarity" to "Colonel Sun"); it's got everything.
Yes there are some leaps of logic in the story. Q does appear to have a magic laptop, for example! But it's all done with such style and pace, and Bond movies always have had a rather dicey relationship with reality anyway, that I was prepared to just go with the flow and be entertained. And that is the whole point of a Bond movie, after all.
I never normally do a repeat viewing of a movie in the cinema but am getting the feeling that I'll be back in a couple of weeks to wallow in SPECTRE all over again.