If Looks Could Kill

Michael Corben is an eighteen-year-old in Detroit who spends more time partying than studying. He learns that his only path to graduation is to join Mrs. Grober and the French Club on a summer trip to France and participate to earn the needed credit. The prospect of a foreign adventure becomes the ticket to finally fitting the diploma puzzle.

Michael agrees to go on the France trip to secure the missing credit. The plan seems straightforward, but a new world of espionage quickly encroaches on his ordinary life as preparations begin.

At the airport, a CIA agent named Michael Corben is killed by the assassin Ilsa Grunt. The civilian Michael is mistaken for the fallen agent, triggering a chain of mistaken identity that propels him into a covert world he doesn’t understand.

Passenger rights vanish as Michael is whisked away by British Intelligence and put on first class, living as if he’s already in the spy life. He travels toward Paris with the danger of a real mission looming behind the glamorous disguise.

Behind the scenes, the mission is revealed: Augustus Steranko plans to seize Europe’s gold to mint his own coin system. The details are kept secret, leaving Michael to follow orders he doesn’t fully understand.

Steranko’s assassins close in as the danger tightens, including Zigesfeld with a prosthetic gold hand and Areola Canasta who wields a venomous scorpion. The journey becomes a stage for the first deadly confrontations and gadgetry glimpses.

Steranko seizes Mrs. Grober and Michael’s classmates at a remote castle stronghold and forces Michael into action. The rescue mission now becomes personal as the stakes include the safety of friends and the fate of Europe’s gold.

Michael meets Mariska, the daughter of a murdered agent, and the two team up to save their teacher and the others while thwarting Steranko’s scheme. The pair plans a bold rescue with courage amid escalating peril.

Michael is briefly captured and imprisoned within the fortress but finds a way to break free. He and Mariska push forward to complete the rescue and to secure the treasure from Steranko’s clutches.

Michael confronts Zigesfeld in a climactic showdown and defeats him, removing a major threat from Steranko’s operation. The castle fortress becomes a battlefield as the two sides collide.

Steranko abducts Mariska and makes a final grab for the gold, fleeing in a Eurocopter Ecureuil helicopter. Michael launches a desperate pursuit through the air as the chase spirals toward the gold and the life of everyone involved.

Michael stages a daring rescue during the helicopter pursuit, and Steranko falls to his death with the gold crashing down beside him. The threat dissolves, leaving the survivors to pick up the pieces.

With the danger ended, Mrs. Grober agrees to grant Michael the French credit he needs, sealing his graduation. The adventure closes with a sense of globe-trotting mischief giving way to ordinary life returning to Detroit.