Release Date: March 14, 2003

Rated PG for action violence, mild language and some sensual content

Directed by: Harald Zwart

Starring: Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff, Andrew Francis, Angie Harmon, Darrell Hammond, Keith David, Martin Henderson, Ian McShane, Judge Reinhold, Cynthia Stevenson, Arnold Vosloo, Connor Widdows

Plot:
To his family and friends, Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) is a typical teen - he loves to skateboard, hates math, and feels like a complete idiot around girls. 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 stuntman, has an incredible arsenal of cool gadgets, and his agency mentor, Ronica Miles (Angie Harmon), 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 (Hilary Duff) in order to gain access to her father, a scientist unknowingly developing a fleet of deadly nanobots for the evil organization ERIS. From runaway cars and high-speed snowboard chases to a spectacular final mountaintop showdown, Cody has to use everything he's learned to prove himself as an agent and stop ERIS-and maybe even get the girl.

Review:
It is not surprising at all that more films involving secret services are being made. Obviously the influence in making last year's XXX was James Bond. Its also a fact that there is no doubt that Agent Cody Banks is like James Bond Jr. Reborn. This film is simply an excuse to capture the attention of the young viewers.

To play the lead star in Agent Cody Banks is star of Malcolm in the Middle, Frankie Muniz. Now, Frankie is nothing more than an average teenage actor. So, expect extremely cheesy acting from Frankie Muniz in Agent Cody Banks. With that said, the adults in the film are not anything to rave about either.

Along with Frankie Muniz it also stars Hilary Duff, Angie Harmon and Keith David. A big problem occurs when Frankie Muniz is placed next to all these other actors. The problems is Frankie Muniz is terribly short and seems even younger than what he really is. He was seventeen years old while making the film and in all reality he looks like a ten year old on screen.

It wasn't the wisest choice to choose Frankie Muniz to play the lead role for Agent Cody Banks. The film could have actually worked in some levels, but there is not enough maturity and height for that matter in Frankie Muniz. In result, there is a number of miscastings in Agent Cody Banks, but either way the film had a bland screenplay to work with.

This film is not a stranger to the word flaw or flaws whatsoever. It has quite a good amount that was clearly unstoppable and they began hitting you with them back to back non stop. Most of the problems that occurred with Agent Cody Banks was first off the look of the film entirely felt very childish and it was overloaded with terrible looking special effects. They were also very badly done and by far exaggerated, especially for a teenager such as Frankie Muniz.

The picture speaks for itself.

Besides those flaws, Agent Cody Banks suffers from a pretty bad storyline. It plays it somewhat like a bond film, copying James Bond step by step, but lacking immensely. The film delivers a lot of unintentional laughs and its not one of the best signs when that occurs. This happens because the film itself as a whole when combined is not solid at all, its actually far from it.

There are scenes in Agent Cody Banks in which the CIA are discussing with Frankie Muniz exactly what he has to do, who he has to track down etc. While it did distribute a few shots of clever technology, it didn't take away of the fact that the entire mission was an absurd and sad one at that.

Let me take a breather here because not every single element of this film is bad. There are signs of good, but perhaps only enough to keep you entertain for a total of five minutes. So, in the end there is not enough good material here to overpower the flaws that are digging down deeper to the ground than six feet.

Plenty of situations in the film makes you ask yourself why would anyone want to make a film as such? The answer is quite simple actually. These type of films are going to attract kids that eat up films that aren't meant to be an achievement. From the moment this film had its trailers playing, it was noticeable that it was all for just plain good fun.

Agent Cody Banks fails to be fun and fails to interest anyone that are fans of spy films. If anything, Agent Cody Banks is a disgrace to every spy film ever made including the entire James Bond legacy which is light years ahead of Cody.

Agent Cody Banks

Rating: