Bond 24: 5 Reasons Why Sam Mendes Should Return

4. It Gives Him More Experience With Blockbuster Films Looking back to the start of his cinematic career with 1999's smash hit American Beauty, Sam Mendes was noted for taking his theatrical background and applying it to his filmmaking craft. He had the cast bond together through readings and general hangouts, and overall he displayed the economy of directing that a stage director would bring to a film. As time went on and Mendes continued to make more films, you could see a distinct evolution developing in his film style. By the time he reached Skyfall, Mendes had experienced action (Road to Perdition), combat (Jarhead), and personal drama (American Beauty/Revolutionary Road)...all three hallmarks of his directorial performance in his Bond film. But the Bond franchise gave him something new to play with: a blockbuster franchise, something which is a different animal from any of the films that Mendes has made before. With a blockbuster franchise, you still need to pull off the balance of action set pieces and character drama. However, both the action and the drama of a blockbuster film are both heightened to the level of spectacle, and as such there's the added factor of scale that needs to be attended to. Sam Mendes managed to not only keep action and drama in mind, but he also scaled up his game with exotic locales, even bigger action set pieces, and bigger drama than he's ever handled before. If anything, this movie should be triggering a career renaissance for Mendes as a jack of all trades, with this being his ultimate calling card. (Well, this, American Beauty, and Road to Perdition.)