Taglines: Save the world. Get the girl. Pass math.
A government agent trains a typical teenager Cody Banks who loves to skateboard, hates math, and feels like a complete idiot around girls, in the ways of covert operations that require younger participants. But Cody’s got a secret–he’s actually part of a secret teen CIA program.
Cody’s living every boy’s dream life–he can drive like a stunt man, has an incredible arsenal of cool gadgets, and his agency mentor, Ronica Miles, is totally hot. But Cody’s training is put to the test when he’s sent to pose as a prep school student and befriend fellow teen Natalie Connors in order to gain access to her father–a scientist unknowingly developing a fleet of deadly pair of twisted villains called the nanobots for the evil organization ERIS, which can destroy any carbon or silicon-based substance-to destroy the world’s defense systems so he can threaten anyone who opposes him.
Agent Cody Banks is an American spy action comedy-thriller 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, Cynthia Stevenson, Daniel Roebuck, Darrell Hammond, 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.
About the Story
Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz), a 15-year-old high school junior, applies for a junior field ops position at the Central Intelligence Agency’s SAD (Special Activities Division) after completing a training summer camp. Answering to his handler Agent Ronica Miles, Cody is called upon a mission to find information about a scientist named Dr. Albert Connors.
Connors is employed by a SPECTRE type organization named ERIS led by Dr. Brinkman, and his henchman François Molay. 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, Dr. Brinkman, and François leave the lab, Cody tries to take 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, and the CIA suspends Cody from the mission. 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 leave her out of it, 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 ground him for staying out past his curfew.
Cody gets his brother Alex 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 her 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.
Agent Cody Banks (2003)
Directed by: Harald Zwart
Starring: Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff, Andrew Francis, Keith David, Cynthia Stevenson, Arnold Vosloo, Daniel Roebuck, Darrell Hammond, Martin Donovan, Chris Gauthier
Screenplay by: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, Zack Stentz, Ashley Edward Miller
Production Design by: Frank Dunlop, Rusty Smith
Cinematography by: Denis Crossan
Film Editing by: Jim Miller
Film Editing by: Jim Miller
Costume Design by: Suzanne McCabe
Set Decoration by: Lesley Beale
Music by: John Powell
MPAA Rating: PG for action violence, mild language and some sensual content.
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release Date: March 14. 2003
Visits: 149
