The Hulk and Save the Cat!

I didn't actually yell out, "Save the Cat!" in the dollar theater last night, but I did nudge my husband hard and whisper it. Truly, there was no other reason to have the scene in the movie than to "Save the Cat" as Blake Snyder would call it.

This Incredible Hulk, much better than the last one, was still transparent in its step from beat to beat. (Blake, I have to say, they didn't even try to disguise the seams!) And the Save the Cat! scene was entirely predictable: a girl in the pop bottling plant (where Bruce Banner is hiding out in Brazil) is getting razzed by some hard-looking workers. Banner doesn't want to get involved, but his better nature insists that he intervene. Ta da!! He does something nice, we the audience now like him (and want him to win the day), and the poor pop-bottling girl is, well, kicked to the curb. She has served her purpose, prop that she is, and fades out, no longer needed.

Just an aside: there really was "sex at sixty" like Blake talks about. Of course, for poor Bruce, the attempt was aborted due to his rather pressing need to keep his heartrate below 200...but the scene was still in place. Blake Snyder's book is as revealing as it is addicting: a must-have for any writer of any medium.