Bond’s back and the latest incarnation is a mixture of the Moore and Brosnan eras. Add a semi-naked Daniel Craig and… well, what can we say?

SAM MENDES isn’t exactly known as an action-film director: while he has done films such as Jarhead and Road to Perdition, both featuring a fair amount of gun play, he is best known for American Beauty and Revolutionary Road – both as far removed from Bond as they could be.

But he has always been a massive fan and brings a sense of style to the franchise, directing some of the best action sequences Bond has been involved in for many a year.

In one punch-up in a deserted office block, the silhouettes of 007 and his antagonist are lit by neon lights. It is as stylish as the interiors of Dr No’s lair, or Sean Connery’s suits, or the Lotus that goes underwater in iconic predecessors.

‘I have my own personal relationship with Bond,’ Mendes said. ‘It began when I was nine years old, when Live and Let Die came out.’

Read the full interview with Sam Mendes in today’s The Week, free with the Guernsey Press.