5 Reasons Why Daniel Craig Should Leave James Bond After Spectre

2. The Best Ever Bond Director Is Leaving Too

James Bond will return, but Sam Mendes certainly won't. Back around the time of Skyfall's release Mendes was broadly sceptical he'd direct another Bond, but the way he's now talking regarding Spectre is much more resolute. The Oscar-winner has now helmed two mega-budget movies with back-breaking production schedules and it's hard to not take him at his word when he says he won't direct Bond 25 (something that seems only more likely with that potential studio change). The reason why Craig should depart with him isn't immediately obvious. He arrived before Mendes (under the direction of GoldenEye's Martin Campbell) and, besides, the franchise has never really been about the non-Broccoli's behind-the-scenes. After all, next-to-nothing is ever made of the fact that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have written every movie since The World Is Not Enough, delivering some of the series' best and worst. No, Craig should leave 007 with Mendes because of what the American Beauty director brought to the series - subtext. We'd had brief flirting with a darker Bond in the past and the odd attempt at condemning his womanising ways, but they look incredibly straight-forward when compared to what Mendes added; on top of a dissection of Bond: The Man, Skyfall also served as a meditation on masculinity and the relevance of the analogue age (that, incidentally, is why it's the best Bond flick). Who else could offer such meaty material?