James Bond filmography 007's defining characteristic: he's an absolute swine". James Chapman commented on the realism and violence in the film noting that Bond is seen to seriously bleed for the first time in the series; Chapman also identified a number of violent scenes which make "Casino Royale" notable in the series. In 2012 "Skyfall" was released: it was Craig's third outing as 007. Reviewing the film, Philip French, writing in "The Observer", considered that Craig managed to "get out of the shadow of Connery", while the "New Statesman" thought that he had "relaxed into Bond without losing any steeliness". Notes References James
Sam Mendes is from Trinidad, is a Roman Catholic of Portuguese Creole descent, and his mother is an English Jew. His grandfather was the Trinidadian writer Alfred Hubert Mendes. Mendes's parents divorced when he was a child. He grew up in Oxfordshire and attended Magdalen College School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first in English. While at Cambridge, he was a member of the Marlowe Society and directed several plays, including a production of "Cyrano de Bergerac" with Tom Hollander among the cast members. He was also a "brilliant" schoolboy cricketer, according to Wisden and played for Magdalen College