"The Dark Knight Rises" and the Aurora Theater

                As with most Christopher Nolan films, “The Dark Knight Rises” begins with an intricate and well-executed action sequence that rivals anything we’ve seen prior in films. This may seem like an overstatement but I can assure you it’s not. I can also assure you that “TDKR” is a riveting critique on mortality, social upheaval, and the demands of being a Hero. In the film, Bruce Wayne, Gotham’s answer to Howard Hughes, is slowly drawn out of retirement to help defeat a villain brilliantly played by a wholly-unrecognizable Tom Hardy. As Bruce Wayne prepares for battle, he quickly dawns upon new realizations that the game has changed and that he needs to quickly answer a question that he has dogged for some time: Why am I the one to carry Gotham’s burden? The film answers some very heavy questions and at a breezy three hour running time, Nolan has managed to conclude his Magnum Opus with aplomb. Batman die-hards will want to know whether this film rivals the previous Batman effort “The Dark Knight” and to this I answer “No but it’s still a great film”. The difference between “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises” is too many. For one thing, “The Dark Knight” deals with society in the face of anarchy and unrelenting terrorism as well as testing Bruce Wayne’s dedication to the limits, whereas “The Dark Knight Rises” deals more with Bruce Wayne proving his worth and re-establishing himself as the hero we wants to be for others and for himself. Christian Bale provides a simmering tone that plays to Batman’s mysterious nature. Kudos must be given to Anne Hathaway who manages to create a three-dimensional character with pathos and enough tenacity to make a pussy purr. Tom Hardy excels as one of the most sinister and eloquent villains since Hannibal Lector. The film is a satisfying book-end to one of the most popular trilogies of all time and it leaves you wanting more (that ending!) but you have to respect Nolan for wrapping it up in the way he did, before Hollywood goes and ruins it.

                During a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises”, a small movie theater in Aurora, Colorado was attacked by a lone madman and several people were shot and killed. News crews rushed to the scene and the attacker was quickly imprisoned (as of this time, the attacker has yet to make any specific statements as to why he did what he did). Only one or two days later, Lobbyists for both Gun and Anti-Gun Control raised their voices and a swarm of opinions inundated every radio, newspaper, and website. Critics blamed the filmmakers of the “The Dark Knight Rises” for creating such realistic and violent material. If all this sounds familiar, the city of Aurora is located a few miles from another small town you may have heard of…Columbine. Only a few days after the massacre, The Westboro Baptist Church, that of picketing the funerals of soldiers fame, declared a “mega”-picket around the prayer vigil for the fallen who passed away that awful night (the church also praised the attacker for killing those “unworthy of God’s love”). Now with all this said and done, I have only to say that opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. No matter how many theorists believe that the attacker was “brainwashed” by the violence of the Batman films, the fact remains that the attacker was alone in his doing. He knew that he would be the only to carry out this task and that’s only because the fabric of our society is so strong to not allow what happened to happen. This boy was not part of our society, he was someone who didn’t have the fortitude and knowledge to realize that he had a problem. Instead, he watched a movie that resonated with him because he identified with a character that was also not part of society. To those critics who say that the movie’s violence influenced the killer, I can only point to the Bible and even other cases of massacre that can, in theory, influence someone else to murder if they so wanted. To those who say that there is no need for more Gun control, I can only say that guns come in all shapes and sizes, some for hunt and some to not only kill a person but to wreck every other working part of that body. In America, you are not allowed to kill anyone but instead you are allowed a large array of weapons that can determine how horribly you could kill an individual. In essence, everyone has a valid point but not the answer. This attacker did what he did because he was not included, he did not feel responsible to other individuals. Whether we like it or not, We are responsible for the lives of our neighbors. When we drive, when we wait in line, when we go shopping, we are always responsible for the lives of others. That is why when the attack happened, three boyfriends saved their respecting girlfriends. The Batman films deal with becoming Heroes and perhaps the saddest irony of all was that the greatest hero wasn’t in the movie but in the theater.