One of the best things that could have happened to the James Bond franchise was when Sam Mendes signed on to direct Skyfall. No one outside of Martin Campbell had made a truly spectacular James Bond movie since Timothy Dalton held the gun. While Campbell helped reboot the franchise twice, he always left it in the hands of lesser men.
Sam Mendes changed all that. With Skyfall, Mendes directed the best James Bond movie since Sean Connery was sipping Martinis. Now, reports say Mendes is 75% ready to come back to the franchise for the 24th movie in the series. If this is true, the James Bond franchise has a bright future.
When Mendes was first brought aboard, I questioned the move. The guy was great at dramas, but even his war movie (Jarhead) was light on action. Then again, he did direct the sublime Road to Perdition, so I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in the end.
And Skyfall blew me away. It’s clear that Sam Mendes is a fan of the James Bond franchise because that movie touched on everything that made the franchise great, and in a year where the Bourne franchise flushed itself down the toilet, James Bond took back over and once again reigns supreme.
The only bad news is that the new Bond movie won’t make its 2014 release with Mendes back in control, thanks to previous engagements. As good as Skyfall was, I don’t mind the wait.
Source: Collider
