Agent Cody Banks (2003)
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A 15-year-old high school sophomore is recruited by the CIA to go undercover as a superspy to stop a global threat.
The story
Cody Banks, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, applies for a junior field ops position at the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division after completing a training summer camp. His handler, Ronica Miles, assigns him a mission to find information about a scientist named Dr. Albert Connors, who is employed by a SPECTRE-type organization named ERIS. To remain undetected, Cody is placed into the William Donovan Institute, a prep school where Dr. Connors' daughter, Natalie, is a student. Cody must navigate the challenges of high school life, including balancing his chores and homework, while the CIA provides him with gadgets and training to help him build status and interact with Natalie.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Cody Banks, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, applies for a junior field ops position at the CIA's Special Activities Division. His handler, Ronica Miles, tasks him with finding information on Dr. Albert Connors, who works for the organization ERIS led by Dr. Brinkman. Cody goes undercover at the William Donovan Institute, a prep school for Connors' daughter, Natalie. While struggling with social skills and schoolwork, the CIA assists Cody with gadgets and training. Cody eventually befriends and falls in love with Natalie. During a party at her father's lab, Cody discovers Brinkman's plan to use nanobots to destroy the world's defense systems using ice cubes as a distribution method. After a skirmish at the party, Cody is suspended by the CIA. Brinkman abducts Natalie to his base in the Cascade Mountains. Cody, having given his brother Alex $5,000 to keep his absence a secret, uses a rocket-powered snowboard and a tracking device to find her. He persuades Ronica to help him. They infiltrate the lab, where Cody rescues Natalie. Brinkman holds Natalie hostage, using an ice cube on her forehead to force her father to program the system. Cody sets off explosives, and Natalie places the ice cube in Brinkman's mouth, causing the nanobots to destroy him. Cody defeats François, sends him to the CIA, and flees the exploding facility with Ronica, Natalie, and Dr. Connors. Cody is welcomed back to the team and starts a relationship with Natalie.
- First release year
- 2003
- Runtime (minutes)
- 102
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Harald Zwart
- Cast and characters
- Frankie Muniz · Cody Banks; Hilary Duff · Natalie; Angie Harmon; Keith David; Cynthia Stevenson; Arnold Vosloo; Ian McShane
- Genres
- spy; action; comedy
- Themes
- Coming of age; Espionage; Technology vs. Nature
- Tone and mood
- Action-packed; Lighthearted; Adventuresome
- Franchise connections
- Agent Cody Banks
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics and had a modest box office performance.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 38% · review count: 102; Rotten Tomatoes · score: 5.2/10 · scale: 10 · review count: 102; Metacritic · score: 41 · scale: 100 · review count: 24; CinemaScore · score: A- · scale: A+ to F; Roger Ebert · score: 2.5 · scale: 4
- Production trivia
- Frankie Muniz was paid $2 million, the highest amount paid to a child actor at that point since Macaulay Culkin.; The film was developed as part of a broader strategy by MGM to make less-expensive films that can appeal to younger and niche audiences.; The film used Media.net’s Edit System Dailies to transfer pre-digitized Avid system files from the post production facility Rainmaker in Vancouver directly to the pic’s editing rooms in Los Angeles.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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