Get Smart (film) - Plot

Plot

Maxwell "Max" Smart, an analyst for the top secret American intelligence agency, CONTROL, yearns to become a field agent like his idol, Agent 23. Despite his amazing scores in the acceptance tests, Max is denied the promotion because the Chief of CONTROL feels that Max's analytic skills are best used for his present assignment. When CONTROL headquarters is attacked by the terrorist organization KAOS, led by Siegfried, almost all of CONTROL's agents' identities are exposed, leaving only Max and Agent 99, to pursue the culprits while former field operatives are demoted to desk jobs. Max is promoted to field agent as Agent 86, but the experienced 99 is reluctant to partner him because of his clumsy personality.

Max and 99 enter Russia by parachute, hoping to trace KAOS' recent acquisition of nuclear materials through its chief bomb maker, Krstic. Along the way, they are attacked by Dalip, one of Siegfried's henchman. By infiltrating a luxurious party hosted by Krstic, they trace the nuclear material to a KAOS nuclear weapons factory disguised as a Moscow bakery, but when Krstic and his men corner them, Max is forced to shoot him. In the bakery, Max meets with Siegfried and his second-in-command, Shtarker, only to learn that Siegfried was expecting him because a double-agent has compromised his and 99's identities. Max manages to escape capture and destroy the weapons factory, but during their escape, Max and 99 are confronted by Dalip. Realizing that he knows Dalip through hours of listening to him on spy 'chatter', Max manages to persuade Dalip to spare their lives. The Chief sends 23 to observe the clean-up of the factory, but KAOS manages to sneak the weapons out through the Moskva River, with 23 reporting that only a bakery has been destroyed. Realizing that Max was alone during his key discoveries, CONTROL believes Max to be the double-agent. 99, who has been gradually falling in love with Max, is heartbroken but takes Max into custody.

CONTROL's warning is disregarded when Siegfried threatens to release nuclear weapon detonator codes to rogue states unless the United States government pays him $200 billion. KAOS plans to plant a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. While Max is in a CONTROL holding cell, Dalip sends him a coded message via the radio show American Top 40 revealing Siegfried's plan. Max escapes from CONTROL and flies to Los Angeles to unite with the Chief, 99, and 23, who have flown out to persuade the President to take the KAOS threat seriously. Max manages to convince 99 and the Chief that he is not the double-agent. As KAOS plants the nuclear bomb in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, where the president will be attending a concert, the group figures out that 23 is the real double-agent after Max's Geiger counter-equipped watch beeps when he is near 23, picking up trace elements of radiation. 23 then pulls out a gun, takes 99 hostage and flees in a vehicle. Max and the Chief pursue 23 with a car before crashing into a golf course. The car hits a shack, sending it flying through the air, and landing on the fence of an airport which allows Max and the Chief to hop onto a small plane. Max reaches 23's car by jumping out of the plane and rescues 99, but in the struggle, the car is set on fire and forced onto railroad tracks. Max then kisses 23 to distract him. The car collides with a freight train, killing 23. After analyzing 23's nuclear football, Max realizes that the bomb will be triggered by the final note of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". They rush to the Disney Hall, with Max tackling the conductor just before the final note, saving the president and Los Angeles. Siegfried, finding that his plan has failed, informs Dalip that he will not kill his wife for his failure. Max is afterwards given honors and gets his dream of becoming a real spy with agent 99 as his girlfriend. The movie ends as Max and 99 exit CONTROL headquarters through the walkway.