At the 60 minute mark in a 120-minute movie, the hero typically attains a False Victory. This False Victory represents the physical aspect of the hero goal but lacks the emotional aspect that the hero truly needs. As soon as the hero achieves this False Victory, everything starts to fall apart for the hero.
From the 60 – 75 minute mark, the villain starts taking control of the situation, but the hero still manages to emerge victorious by the 75 minute mark.
In “Die Hard,” the hero has finally succeeded in alerting the police about the terrorists at the 60 minute mark. Then everything starts to fall apart when the SWAT team tries to attack and the villain blows up their armored car. The hero then blows up some of the terrorists with the detonators he found earlier, and achieves a minor victory over the villain by saving the SWAT team.
In “10 Cloverfield Lane,” the 60 minute mark is when the hero realizes something horrible really has happened outside and she’s actually safer staying wth the villain inside the shelter.
Then the air filter breaks down and when the hero goes to fix it, she sees a message for help that someone had scratched in the glass from the inside. When she goes back into the shelter, she learns that the villain had imprisoned a girl who had gone missing. That’s when the hero realizes that the villain really is a bad guy and decides she’s going to escape once and for all regardless of what danger might be outside.
In “Star Wars,” Luke has finally escaped his boring planet at the 60 minute mark. Then things start to fall apart when the Death Star captures Luke. By the 75 minute mark, Luke has achieved a minor victory by rescuing Princess Leia.
The 75 minute mark is where the hero achieves a minor victory. The 60 minute mark is where things start to fall apart and the hero fights back. Although the hero achieves a minor victory, the hero’s life gradually gets worse and the villain’s life gradually gets better.
Remember, every 15 minutes, another mini-story begins and the previous mini-story ends. The 75 minute mark is simply a small victory for the hero after life starts falling apart from the False Victory.
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