Is James Bond bad for our kids?

Actor Sean Connery in the first James Bond flick, Dr No. Source: The Daily Telegraph

Actor Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace / Pic: AP

JAMES Bond movies are more than twice as violent today than they were when the first film Dr No was released 50 years ago, a new study has found.

Researchers who studied 22 of the 23 Bond films said their discovery supported fears that young people were becoming increasingly exposed to brutality on screen.

Quantum Of Solace, released in 2008 and starring Daniel Craig, showed 250 "total acts of violence", including those classed as trivial and severe, compared with 109 in Sean Connery's 1962 inaugural Bond Dr No.

While rates of violence "increased significantly" in the movies, there was an even bigger increase in portrayals of "severe violence", defined in the University of Otago, New Zealand research as "acts that would be likely to cause death or injury if they occurred in real life".

Tomorrow Never Dies, which starred Pierce Brosnan and was released in 1997, was the most violent of all Bond films, the second most successful franchise after the Harry Potter movies.

The latest and 23rd Bond film, Skyfall, was not released when the study was done.

Research co-author Associate Professor Bob Hancox, of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, said all 007 films had no age restrictions and it was concerning that many children and adolescents will have seen "their increasingly violent nature".

"There's a huge amount of information that exposure to a lot of media violence encourages aggressive and anti-social behaviour, particularly in children," he said. "There is concern and research to back it up that violent imagery in the media may lead to behavioural problems."

Professor Hancox said ratings systems should be reviewed so there was a greater emphasis on levels and severity of violence.

Quantum Of Solace and Skyfall are rated M - mature - in Australia. The Australian Classification Board lists M as meaning they "contain content of a moderate impact and are recommended for teenagers aged 15 years and over". The board said "children under 15 may legally access this material because it is an advisory category".