Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London review by Mike Long

While watching a really bad movie, it can often be challenging to spot the film's low point. The nadir of Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London comes when, after an extended chase on-foot, the villain corners Cody and says, in all seriousness, "You should've run when you had the chance." What?! That sounds like something from a Naked Gun movie! But that's the kind of slapdash filmmaking that hampers this pointless sequel, soon to hit DVD.

Agent Cody Banks 2 is a follow-up to the original 2003 film, which was a minor hit for MGM. As this new film opens, Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz), the 16-year old CIA agent, is a Kamp Woody, the covert location where young agents are trained. During a night-time exercise, he helps his instructor Diaz (Keith Allen) escape from the camp. Cody then learns, from the CIA Director (Keith David), that the overnight activities weren't a drill, but an actual attempt to capture Diaz, who had stolen a top-secret mind control device. The CIA has learned that Diaz will most likely head to London to sell the invention to Kenworth (James Faulkner). Kenworth's wife oversees an orchestra made up of young prodigies, so Cody is sent to London, where he poses as a clarinet virtuoso, to become a part of the orchestra and get close to Kenworth. Once in London, Cody meets his new “handler”, a disgraced agent named Derek (Anthony Anderson). Once Cody’s immersion into the orchestra is complete, he notices that he can’t shake the flute player Emily (Hannah Spearrit). Cody’s mission becomes an imperative once it’s learned that Kenworth wants to take control of the president of the United States.

It would be easy to dismiss Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London simply for being an unnecessary sequel to a decidedly mediocre movie and say that the movie was a chance to cash in by MGM (The sequel was released exactly one year after the first film opened). But, that would be ignoring the fact that Agent Cody Banks 2 is one of the worst movies ever made -- and I mean that in the sense of a Hollywood film which clearly had a notable budget and recognizable actors.

If a movie is about a 16-year old CIA agent, clearly the audience is being asked to suspend their disbelief. But, the idiotic script by Don Rhymer for Agent Cody Banks 2 insults the audience’s intelligence by throwing one illogical scene after another onto the screen. Let me get this straight, Cody Banks goes undercover by using the name...Cody Banks??? Did they think the audience would forget who Frankie Muniz was playing? And then, Cody, who’s met Kenworth, thinks that he can waltz into Kenworth’s lab without being recognized? Cody is other very cocky or very stupid. When Cody’s parents come to Kamp Woody to visit, they claim they’ve never been there before. He went there in the first film! Didn’t they visit/drop off/pick up him then? The movie continues to toss implausibilities at the viewer and even the most naive member of this film’s young target audience will find themselves hating the movie. The characters in the orchestra are annoying and poor Anthony Anderson’s buffoonish character is played strictly for laughs...which never emerge. Agent Cody Banks certainly wasn’t a great movie, but it was a fun romp which had some nice action scenes. This low-rent sequel is a complete waste of time which should have brought the possibility of an Agent Cody Banks franchise to a halt.

Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London judo chops its way onto DVD courtesy of MGM Home Entertainment. The DVD contains both the widescreen and full-frame versions of the film. For the purposes of this review, only the widescreen version was screened. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is relatively sharp and clear, showing no overt grain or defects from the source material. The image is hampered by occasional shimmering and the actor’s skin often looks overly shiny. The colors are good, but there is some indication of an overuse of edge enhancement. The DVD carries a nice Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. This track provides clear and audible dialogue with no hissing or distortion. The action scenes in this film may be few and far between, but when they do arrive, the surround sound and subwoofer effects are quite impressive, especially when Diaz is wielding a miniature grenade launcher.

The Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London DVD compliments the awful movie with some truly disappointing extra features. We start with two special features which offer alternative ways to view the film. The first is called the “Agent Mode” Interactive Quiz. With this, the film will stop at certain points and Frankie Muniz will appear on-screen to ask the viewer a question about the movie. The other feature is a “Spy on the Set” Visual Commentary, which is similar to the quiz in that the movie will suddenly stop and either Muniz, Anthony Anderson, or Hannah Spearrit, or all three, will pop-up to discuss the on-screen action. Both of these modes are incredibly silly and watching the film in this fashion will only add to the unbearable running time. “Agent Cody Banks: Back in Action” is a 9-minute making-of featurette that offers the typical behind-the-scenes footage, clips, and comments from the cast and crew. What we also get is Muniz walking into the frame to sell the movie. “More comedy!” The DVD contains three deleted scenes and three extended scenes, and a “Play All” feature accompanies these scenes. The extras are rounded out by two photo galleries (“Cast” and “On-Set”) and the film’s theatrical trailer, which is letterboxed at 1.85:1 and is 16 x 9 enhanced.


2 out of 10 Jackasses

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