Chapter 150: Opening
Chapter 150: Opening
The moment the two entered the screening hall, Drew immediately shook off Nicole and ran toward the front-row seats reserved for the film crew. Nicole only saw Drew whisper a few words into the ear of Tom Hanks, who then smiled and stood up to give her his seat.
Although she felt envious, Nicole clearly understood that she did not even qualify to sit in the front row right now, much less have anyone there give up their seat for her. Though unwilling, the woman still found a seat in the middle section of the theater and sat down.
More and more people gradually filled the screening hall. Before she realized it, a refined-looking man in glasses around thirty years old sat beside her. The man seemed to glance at her unintentionally, revealing a perfectly timed expression of surprise, as though he had only just noticed the beautiful woman next to him. He proactively greeted her.
“Hi, hello.”
Although the man’s tone sounded casual, Nicole, who had encountered similar situations countless times, had already realized his intention to flirt the moment he sat beside her. Though somewhat displeased inwardly, since he had greeted her so politely, she could not simply ignore him and replied flatly, “Hello.”
The man paid no mind to Nicole’s coldness. As a veteran among women, if he retreated just because a woman acted aloof at first, he would never manage to pick one up.
“Forgive my abruptness, miss, but you’re truly beautiful. Especially your hairstyle. Combined with your facial features, it gives you the cold elegance of a classical beauty. You know, so many girls nowadays like to perm their hair into fluffy little curls, but to me that hairstyle looks like a bird’s nest. It’s simply awful. Girls with taste like yours are really too rare.”
Hearing the man’s compliments, there was not the slightest joy on Nicole’s face from being praised. Instead, embarrassment flashed through her expression. Somewhat helplessly, she replied, “Thank you for the compliment, sir.”
“You’re welcome,” the man said with a smile. “My name is George Norson. I’m a film critic for Premiere magazine.”
“You can call me Nicole.”
“Nicole? As in n-i-c-o-l-e? Wow, I suddenly realized this name seems to exist specifically for you. In Greek, ‘Nicole’ refers to a young woman who appears beautiful and delicate on the outside, but is strong and independent inside.”
George Norson was just about to continue speaking when the lights in the screening hall dimmed.
For some reason, perhaps because she had been reminded of Eric’s indifference toward her during this period, Nicole instead found this attentive flirtation somewhat irritating. She softly reminded him, “The movie’s starting, Mr. Norson.”
“Of course, I understand.” George Norson realized he had been too eager and quickly straightened up, shifting his attention to the screen.
After Columbia’s Statue of Liberty logo, the little girl in the red hood released a firefly that streaked across the sky, tracing beautiful glowing letters before soaring upward and transforming into the brightest star among the countless lights. Then the screen plunged briefly into darkness. The sound of heavy footsteps began echoing, as though pounding directly against the audience’s hearts, yet the movie image still did not immediately appear. Instead, the names of the main production staff appeared on the screen.
Amid everyone’s curious anticipation, the image finally lit up.
In a dim stairwell, Tom Cruise, wearing sunglasses and expressionless, climbed floor after floor of stairs. At the same time, a mysterious and sorrowful male chant slowly rose.
Nicole was staring intently at the screen when the whispers of two girls behind her drifted over. They were probably Cruise’s fans.
“Oh my God, I suddenly realized my little Tommy looks so handsome even when he walks. Mickey, I can’t take it anymore.”
“Me too, me too, Erica. We have to go ask Tommy for a few more autographs later.”
In truth, Nicole herself had also developed the exact same feeling, though she did not understand why.
Fortunately, there happened to be a professional film critic beside her. George Norson had also heard the comments from the two female Cruise fans behind them and leaned closer to explain softly.
“That’s the result of atmosphere-building. The echoing footsteps, the mysterious chanting, the cold-toned cinematography, and the silent protagonist together create an extremely infectious image. So it’s not strange for them to feel that way. Eric Williams truly deserves his reputation as a genius. With just a few simple shots, he’s already established a style completely different from his previous two films. If the lighting were adjusted to normal, if the music and echoes were removed, or even if different background music were used, these scenes wouldn’t produce the same effect. It looks simple, but perfectly blending several elements together into something irresistibly compelling requires tremendous artistic mastery.”
When trying to pick up women, discussing another man in front of them was obviously not a wise strategy. But George Norson simply regarded Nicole as an ordinary movie fan. He did not believe the woman sitting here would ever have the chance to come into contact with Eric, much less know him personally. That was why he did not hesitate to lavish praise upon Eric while subtly showing off his own professional expertise in film appreciation.
After reaching the rooftop, the musical style gradually became heavier along with the tracking shot. Once the protagonist climbed onto the rooftop ledge, the film began switching between memories and reality. Through the conversations between Andy, played by Cruise, and the doctor, the audience learned that Andy only had four weeks left to live.
“Waaah, Tommy’s not going to jump, is he?” The worried voice of the girl behind them sounded again. In fact, this was also the shared concern of many audience members in the theater.
The other girl immediately hugged her companion reassuringly.
“No, no, Erica. Look, Tommy’s carrying a bag. He definitely has something else to do. If someone were going to jump off a building, why would they still carry a shoulder bag?”
“Mickey, do you think Tommy will die?”
“Definitely not. I’ve heard plenty of stories about terminal cancer patients surviving. Besides, this is a movie. Miracles happen in movies all the time. Tommy’s never died in his previous films. He’ll never die.”
“Hopefully.”
Erica clasped her hands to her chest in prayer while expectantly watching Cruise standing atop the rooftop.
But the film did not immediately reveal the answer to the audience.
After the title Running Out of Time appeared, the scene shifted to a restaurant. Sean, played by Hanks, leisurely ate breakfast while reading a newspaper. The camera swiftly panned toward the restaurant counter, where Andy was also calmly eating breakfast while looking up at the sitcom playing on television, his gaze carrying faint reluctance and attachment.
With the two protagonists appearing simultaneously, the audience assumed the two would have some kind of confrontation inside the restaurant. After all, the movie was titled Running Out of Time. But the scene quickly cut away again.
“I guarantee Cruise’s restaurant scene will appear repeatedly later. This is a time cue deliberately set by the director. Nicole, did you notice Cruise’s expression? He only has four weeks left to live, so whether he’s eating, drinking water, or watching television, his expression is filled with concentration and attachment, as though he wants to carve every beautiful thing in this world into his soul during his remaining four weeks. I guarantee Cruise will definitely die at the end,” George Norson once again could not resist showing off.
Nicole merely nodded slightly to indicate she had heard him. Her eyes remained fixed straight ahead on the screen as she gradually became immersed in the story herself.
Inside the police blockade, Sean stepped out of his car and hurried into a police vehicle, asking Ian Spy, the police chief played by Joe Pesci, who wore a superintendent-level uniform beneath a bulletproof vest, “Have you made contact with the robbers?”
Ian’s eyes shifted nervously. “Talked to them twenty minutes ago.”
Sean immediately raised his eyebrows and turned toward Ian in shock.
“You went yourself? Let me guess. You said, ‘I’m Ian Spy, chief of the Los Angeles Central District Police Department. Surrender within three minutes,’ right?”
Ian awkwardly shook his head, but then quickly remembered that Sean was now his subordinate rather than the once-famous elite officer of the police force. He stiffened his neck and looked away toward the window with a stubborn expression that practically said, What are you going to do about it?
Joe Pesci’s performance in this segment, whether through dialogue, movements, or expressions, was extremely comedic. Smiles had already begun appearing across the audience’s faces.
Although Sean looked somewhat helpless, he still had someone play the negotiation recording.
A hand pressed the play button, and Joe Pesci’s uniquely distinctive voice immediately sounded.
“Hello, this is Ian Spy, chief of the Los Angeles Central District Police Department. You are completely surrounded. Surrender within three minutes.”
Sean shook his head with a just as I thought expression, while Ian guiltily looked back out the window again.
In the recording, the robbers listed a series of demands. When Ian heard them request a bulletproof vehicle, he could not help retorting, “Why don’t you ask for a helicopter too?”
Hearing this, Sean shook his head and stomped hard in frustration, his tone filled with helpless exasperation, like an elder scolding an idiot.
“If you don’t understand, then stop talking nonsense!”
The atmosphere Hanks and Joe Pesci had built up for the audience finally exploded at that moment. Along with Sean’s near-breakdown reaction, the moment that line was delivered, laughter erupted throughout the theater for the first time.
Sure enough, the robbers immediately followed Ian’s suggestion and changed their demand from a bulletproof vehicle to a helicopter. Sean could only sigh repeatedly as he took a walkie-talkie and entered the bank alone. After a fierce battle of words and psychological maneuvering, Sean successfully resolved the hostage crisis and forced the mole to commit suicide out of fear of punishment.
Although Eric had not altered the plot of this segment, he had consulted real negotiation experts regarding the dialogue, making it more reasonable and sharp. Even professionals could no longer pick flaws from the verbal confrontations in this section.
Of course, the scene’s runtime was lengthened by several minutes as a result, but that was not a problem. The film had originally only been ninety minutes long, and in Hollywood, most major productions usually ran around two hours anyway. Moreover, because the dialogue was designed so cleverly, audiences did not feel the scene dragging at all. Instead, it more thoroughly demonstrated how outstanding Sean was as the male protagonist.
After leaving the bank, Sean walked toward a snack stand and bought a cola and a hamburger. Among the onlooking crowd, an old balding man with a strange smile raised a camera and photographed Sean’s every movement.
The old man’s expression appeared somewhat stiff, but combined with the signature mysterious male chanting music that appeared almost simultaneously, although most viewers were still confused, the professional film critics present had already guessed that the old man was very likely Andy in disguise.
Sure enough, the scene shifted into a room filled with computers, disguise equipment, and various high-tech criminal tools. Andy pinned the freshly developed photographs of Sean at the bank robbery scene onto the wall. At the same time, the wall already held other photographs, such as old pictures of Sean during his time in SWAT.
As the camera swept across the wall covered in photographs and newspaper clippings, the audience finally understood Sean’s identity.