Chapter 332:Three-line Narrative

"Jane, you're half an hour late."

In front of an AMG cinema in Manhattan, Ivanka Trump complained to the person walking up to her, "You're the one who asked me out to watch a movie, yet you're the one who's late."

"Hey, Ivie, you know how New York traffic is."

With an apologetic smile, Jane Lauder linked her arm through hers and headed toward the cinema. "Hurry up, the screening I booked is about to start."

"What movie?" Ivanka asked curiously as she followed her into the theater. "What has you so eager?"

"Duke Rosenberg's new film."

As they approached the ticket counter, Jane Lauder led Ivanka Trump in. It was a Friday afternoon, so the cinema wasn't crowded. After collecting the pre-booked tickets, Jane pulled Ivanka into the screening hall and found two suitable seats, ready to watch the film.

Seeing Ivanka Trump remain silent, Jane suddenly asked, "I heard you had some unpleasantness with Duke at the New Year's party?"

"Just a small misunderstanding."

Ivanka adjusted herself into a more comfortable position and said, "I met him later at Wharton Business School, and we cleared the air."

"Wharton Business School?" Jane Lauder immediately looked curious. "He went there just to find you?"

"No," Ivanka shook her head. "It seems one of his director friends was shooting a film near Wharton, and we bumped into each other."

"That must have been Sofia Coppola," Jane Lauder deduced immediately.

Now it was Ivanka's turn to be curious. "Jane, you seem to know a lot about him."

"He doesn't have many friends, just a few close ones. One of them is Irene."

Rolling her eyes, Jane said rather helplessly, "When you have a sister who constantly talks about him, it's hard not to know."

As young women, they naturally had an inclination for gossip. Ivanka probed further, "Is he pursuing Irene?"

"No, he and Irene are just friends."

At this point, Jane Lauder gestured toward the big screen. "No more talking; the movie is about to start."

Ivanka Trump let out a soft breath. Some time ago, she had received a package from New Zealand. She hadn't expected him to still remember her…

Shaking off those irrelevant thoughts, she glanced around the theater. There were only about ten other people in the hall.

"Isn't Duke very famous?"

As the opening credits rolled, Ivanka whispered, "Why are there so few people here to watch his movie?"

"Sweetie, it seems you don't know much about the film industry," Jane Lauder said, adopting a lecturing tone. "This is just a $10 million low-budget production. Warner Bros. didn't do much marketing for it, and it's the off-season for movies. Fans of big-budget blockbusters aren't likely to come to see something like this."

"Then why did you drag me here?" Ivanka asked.

Jane Lauder answered without hesitation, "Because I'm a fan of Duke."

"Are his films really that good?"

Hearing Ivanka's somewhat doubtful tone, Jane Lauder turned to her, her expression serious. "They're even better than you can imagine."

Moved by her friend's praise, Ivanka Trump focused her attention on the big screen.

The logos of Warner Bros. and Crown Pictures had just flashed across the screen when the sound of a violent crash erupted in the theater. A powerful off-road vehicle rammed into an armored car parked outside a bank, just as its door opened. Two men wearing hoods and Kevlar vests jumped out of the off-road vehicle, armed with drum magazine-equipped AK-47 automatic rifles.

Robbing an armored car in broad daylight? Ivanka had just started forming this thought when the rapid gunfire began, as relentless as raindrops hitting glass. The two robbers wasted no time on words or unnecessary actions, mercilessly spraying bullets at the armored car. Several guards and security personnel fell immediately, and the supposedly bulletproof armored vehicle became riddled with holes.

No hesitation, no mercy, no humanity—the two seemed more like monstrous figures than men, relentlessly firing their weapons.

It wasn't just the guards and security who suffered. As the camera quickly switched perspectives, nearby pedestrians were also caught in the crossfire. Some were hit by stray bullets, and vehicles had their windows shattered. The entire area around the bank descended into chaos.

Finally, the two robbers stopped shooting. The ground around the armored vehicle was drenched in blood. One of them reloaded while keeping watch, and the other stepped over corpses to enter the vehicle, emerging with only one bag of cash.

"Just one bag of money!"

Even through the hood, you could see the anger in his eyes, as though he was ready to spray bullets again in a fit of rage.

Fortunately, his partner retained some sense, reminding him that the police could arrive at any moment. The two quickly ran to a Chevrolet parked nearby and sped off.

The entire robbery—from start to getaway—took less than five minutes. After driving two blocks away, the robbers removed their hoods, revealing their fierce faces, perfectly matching the public's perception of hardened criminals.

One of them opened the money bag, only to find it stuffed with small bills, far less than expected.

"If they didn't get much this time, they'll definitely strike again."

The scene shifted back to the bank, where Liam Neeson's character, Officer Michael, surveyed the aftermath. "The suspects have automatic weapons loaded with armor-piercing rounds…"

The scene of carnage drove home the robbers' ruthlessness. This heist resulted in three deaths, two critically injured, and three with minor injuries.

Given the severity of the incident, the entire LAPD was mobilized. As the case's interim leader, Michael also had an additional task: notifying the families of the victims. Since the deceased were too disfigured to be viewed immediately, the police chose to break the news first to prepare the families emotionally.

Just as in mainstream media portrayals, the LAPD was given a respectable image in the film.

Duke is a mainstream director and never attempts to tread the non-mainstream path.

The film's theme was straightforward: the classic Hollywood narrative of justice triumphing over evil. It explored social issues like family dynamics while lightly touching on the psychological and ideological states of the robbers, inspired by Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu.

"This is different from Duke's usual films; the pacing is a bit slow," Jane murmured softly.

Ivanka Trump heard her but didn't respond. She wasn't a die-hard movie fan, just a casual observer. Still, the film's opening reminded her of the real-life North Hollywood bank robbery case that had been reported in the media…

Compared to her impressions, the film seemed to take significant creative liberties.

Sneaking a glance around the theater, Ivanka noticed that the dozen or so attendees were all engrossed in the screen. It seemed the movie was captivating enough.

Ivanka wasn't interested in shootouts; she just wanted to see how the story unfolded. The robbers' inhumane massacre at the start had already ignited her sense of justice, making her eager to see them brought to justice.

This was precisely why Duke handled the opening scenes the way he did. The film clearly delineated good from evil, with no ambiguity or attempts to justify the robbers' actions.

A mother and daughter appeared on screen. The mother was cooking dinner, waiting for her husband to return home, while the daughter watched cartoons, occasionally laughing and chatting with her mother—a warm, happy family.

Then came a knock at the door. Officer Michael delivered the devastating news, shattering the family's happiness. The mother transitioned from shock to disbelief, then grief, despair, and finally collapsed onto the sofa. The daughter, sent away by her mother, hid at the staircase, her large tears silently rolling down her cheeks.

"I promise, I'll bring the perpetrators to justice!"

Faced with the grieving Catherine, Michael could only offer these words of comfort. It was a promise he had made countless times before, rarely fulfilling them. But seeing this broken family ignited an unprecedented determination in him to capture the criminals.

"I promise I'll catch them!"

The grieving widow, the silently weeping child, and the determined officer became inextricably linked from that moment on.

"That child actor is really good," Jane commented, adopting the air of an expert. "Much better than her stiff-faced mother."

Ivanka Trump gave her a sidelong glance, refraining from any comment as she continued watching.

After portraying the sorrow of a broken family, the camera followed Officer Michael home. Like most Hollywood heroes, the protagonist came with his own set of family issues.

While the girl in the scene wasn't the typical "problem child," her indifferent demeanor and strained communication with Michael highlighted a tense father-daughter relationship. Their conversation revealed the family's backstory.

Due to his demanding job, Michael had neglected his family, leading to the breakdown of his marriage. His daughter, Lily, who lived with him, was in her rebellious phase, harboring resentment toward him and his profession. She believed it was being a police officer that had torn apart their once-happy family.

Their argument ended in mutual frustration. Michael, burdened by the case and his inability to connect with his daughter, spent a sleepless night tossing and turning.

Like many fathers, he deeply loved his daughter but struggled to express it in a way she could understand.

Meanwhile, beneath Lily's cold exterior was a heart yearning for familial love. The pain of her broken family drove her to drugs. She started with marijuana and had now moved on to cocaine, using substance abuse to numb her anguish.

Every family has its struggles. As the camera shifted, the other two narrative threads also began to unfold.