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Agent Cody Banks

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Agent Cody Banks
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHarald Zwart
Screenplay byScott Alexander
Larry Karaszewski
Zack Stentz
Ashley Edward Miller
Story byJeffrey Jurgensen
Produced byDavid C. Glasser
Andreas Klein
Dylan Sellers
Guy Oseary
David Nicksay
StarringFrankie Muniz
Hilary Duff
Angie Harmon
Keith David
Cynthia Stevenson
Arnold Vosloo
Ian McShane
CinematographyDenis Crossan
Edited byJim Miller
Music byJohn Powell
Production
companies
Splendid Pictures
Maverick Films
Dylan Sellers Productions
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed byMGM Distribution Co.
Release date
  • March 14, 2003 (2003-03-14)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$28 million[1]
Box office$58.8 million[1]

Agent Cody Banks is a 2003 American spy comedy film directed by Harald Zwart. It 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 and 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, as well as 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. The film's executive producers include Madonna (whose then-production company Maverick Films acquired the script) and Jason Alexander (he was originally attached to direct before being replaced by Vic Armstrong, who was ultimately replaced by Zwart).[2]

Plot

Cody Banks, a 15-year-old high school junior in Seattle, applies for a junior field ops position at the Central Intelligence Agency's 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, 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 rescuing her from a falling 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 fights with a number of delinquents, 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 henchmen come over to their table and beat Cody up, and take Natalie. Cody is fully removed from the mission and is grounded for being missing for hours from his house.

Cody gets his brother Alex to make sure his parents do not find out that he has disappeared 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. However, 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.

However, the trio are captured by Brinkman's men, although Cody quickly escapes. 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 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 exploding facility with Ronica, Natalie and Dr. Connors. The CIA welcomes Cody back to the team and congratulates him for completing the mission, and Cody decides to have Natalie earn her drivers license as a reward in which she succeeds in. They then stop by at a beach and kiss, starting a relationship.

Cast

Reception

The film received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 39% "Rotten" rating, stating that the film "should satisfy young teens, but offers nothing new for those who are familiar with the formula."

Agent Cody Banks opened at #2 with $14,064,317 behind Bringing Down the House's second weekend.[3] 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.[4]

Home media

Agent Cody Banks was released on VHS and DVD on August 5, 2003 and the Blu-ray was then released on May 24, 2016.

Broadcast

In India and Israel, the film was premiered on Jetix.

In Italy, it was aired on Sky Cinema then on K2, Frisbee, and Paramount Channel.

In Southeast Asia, the film is aired on Fox Family Movies, along with Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London.

Sequel

Main article: Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London

A sequel Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London was released on March 12, 2004. Hilary Duff and Angie Harmon were replaced by Anthony Anderson and Hannah Spearritt.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Agent Cody Banks (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  2. ^ Agent Cody Banks: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack liner notes, Daniel Schweiger - Intrada Records
  3. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for March 14-16, 2003". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  4. ^ "Agent Cody Banks (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
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