Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven has criticised the James Bond franchise for not including any sex scenes in No Time To Die.

The Benedetta director shared his thoughts on the 007 films following the news that Daniel Craig will be retiring from the role, saying many Hollywood studio films today are sexless.

• READ MORE: No Time To Die review: Daniel Craig’s surprisingly emotional final fling

“It’s about crashing and blowing up,” Verhoeven said of franchises like 007, in an interview with The Sunday Times.

“Sometimes these movies are fun, but the narrative tells you nothing about us now. I don’t see any other thought in Marvel or Bond movies.”

Verhoeven shared his thoughts on what his own Bond film would look like, saying “I’d go back to reality” with “cars that don’t leap up into the sky.”

The filmmaker went on to criticise No Time To Die for scrapping any intimate scenes between Bond, after praising the ones in Craig’s debut as 007 in Casino Royale.

“There was always sex in Bond!” Verhoeven said. “They did not show a breast, or whatever. But they had some sex.”

Verhoeven most recently directed Benedetta, which will be released in UK cinemas over the Easter weekend.

Last year, the filmmaker hit out at critics who took aim at the film’s sex scenes.

“I don’t really understand how you can really blaspheme about something that happened, even in 1625,” he said.

“You cannot change history, you cannot change things that happened, and I based it on the things that happened. So I think the word blasphemy in this case is stupid.”