Agent Cody Banks

Agent Cody Banks Information

Agent Cody Banks is an American Action comedy film directed by Harald Zwart. Its story follows the adventures of the 15-year-old title character, played by Frankie Muniz, who has to finish his chores, avoid getting grounded, and save the world by going undercover for the CIA as a James Bond type superspy. Hilary Duff, Angie Harmon, Keith David, Ian McShane, and Arnold Vosloo co-star. The film was filmed in British Columbia. It was released in the United States on March 14, 2003.

This film was the first major motion picture project for Duff apart from the film spinoff of her Lizzie McGuire TV series. The same can be said for Harmon, who had just come off a three-year stint as Assistant D.A. Abbie Carmichael on NBC's Law & Order. A sequel, was released the following year.

Plot

Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz), a 15-year-old high school student, applies for a junior position for the Central Intelligence Agency after completing his summer camp for CIA agents. Answering to his handler Agent Ronica Miles (Angie Harmon), Cody is called upon a mission to find information about a scientist named Dr. Albert Connors (Martin Donovan). Connors is employed by a SPECTRE type organization named ERIS led by Dr. Brinkman (Ian McShane), and his henchman, François Molay (Arnold Vosloo). As all CIA agents are known to Brinkman's organization, the CIA uses the unknown Banks, who is placed into the prep school of Dr. Connors' daughter, Natalie (Hilary Duff), the William Donovan Institute.

Cody soon finds he has no social skill with girls and has no time to do this while balancing his chores and homework. The CIA decides to help by doing his chores and homework, trying to build his status, and going into the school to set him up with Natalie. The CIA also assemble a varying team of "experts" to train Cody into how to talk to girls, and issue him with a variety of gadgets with various functions.

Eventually, Cody befriends, and falls in love with Natalie after saving her from falling off a ladder while putting up a banner, and he is invited to her 16th birthday party, where he goes undercover to her father's lab. Cody finds that Dr. Brinkman is planning to use nanobots "? which can destroy any carbon or silicon-based substance "? to destroy the world's defense systems so he can threaten anyone who opposes him. Since the nanobots are inactive in the cold, he plans to use ice cubes to distribute them. After Connors, Brinkman and François leave the lab, Cody attempts to steal one of the ice cubes, only for it to melt when in his possession.

Shortly after this, Cody gets into a fight with a number of bullies, at the party. The fight makes the school newspaper, causing the CIA to remove him from the mission for fear he may have blown his cover. Meanwhile, with Connors refusing to aid him in his plans, Dr. Brinkman sends François and some men to catch Natalie and bring her into his base in the Cascade Mountains. Meanwhile, disobeying orders to stay away from her, Cody and Natalie eat ice cream at a restaurant. Cody attempts to explain things to Natalie but François and a group of men come over to their table and fight with Cody, knocking him unconscious and taking Natalie. Cody is removed from the mission, and his parents punish him for staying out past his curfew.

Cody gets his brother Alex (Connor Widdows) to make sure his parents do not find out that he is gone by giving him the $5,000 the CIA gave him. Knowing Natalie's location via a tracking device in a necklace he gave her as a birthday present, Cody breaks into the CIA weapons hold and steals a rocket powered snowboard and other devices to rescue Natalie. Cody gets a ride to the top of the mountain and snowboards to the factory where Natalie is held. On the way, he gets caught in a grove of trees as Ronica finds him using a SoloTrek XFV. After convincing Ronica that they need to rescue Natalie, the pair infiltrate the laboratory and Cody rescues Natalie, also explaining the truth about why he went out with her.

However, the trio are captured by Brinkman's men, although Cody quickly manages to escape. Natalie is held hostage by Dr. Brinkman, who puts an ice cube with a nanobot inside on her forehead to make her father program the system. Cody sets off a series of explosive charges he and Ronica had planted throughout the base, and in the ensuing battle, Ronica fights off several of Dr. Brinkman's men and Natalie kills Dr. Brinkman by placing the ice cube with the nanobots into his mouth, causing it to melt, and the nanobots to devour him from the inside out. Cody later defeats François and sends him to the CIA using the SoloTrek XFV, before fleeing the facility with Ronica, Natalie and Dr. Connors before it explodes. The film ends with Cody and Natalie sharing their first kiss.

Cast

Frankie Muniz as Agent Cody Banks
Hilary Duff as Natalie Katerina Connors
Angie Harmon as Ronica Miles
Keith David as CIA Director
Ian McShane as Dr. Brinkman
Arnold Vosloo as François Molay
Martin Donovan as Dr. Albert Connors
Cynthia Stevenson as Mrs. Banks
Daniel Roebuck as Mr. Banks
Connor Widdows as Alex Banks
Darrell Hammond as Earl
Peter New as Rosychuk
Noel Fisher as Fenster

Sequel

A sequel, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, was released 2004.

Release

The film received generally negative reviews.

Agent Cody Banks opened at #2 with $14,064,317 behind Bringing Down the Houses second weekend. By the time the film closed on July 31, 2003, the film had earned $47,938,330 domestically and an additional $10,857,484 internationally, adding up to a total $58,795,814.