Nolan's Dark Knight Rises to Infamy

No one could have predicted the tragic events that unfolded only hours ago like a dream, the nightmare all too real in this world as any Christopher Nolan could have made up.  In the cool early morning of weeks end, not long after the midnight release of one of the most anticipated films in recent memory, a troubled man let loose his animosity with all the devastating details of a Hollywood movie no one would have imagined.  

What started as a time of celebration and excitement with the release of Nolan’s final installment in his three picture deal with Warner Bros. took a tragic twist of fate today, Friday July 20th, 2012 at 12:30am in a packed movie theater in Aurora Colorado when a man wearing a gas mask entered the theater, set off a smoke bomb and opened fire.  The details are still being pieced together but 12 people have been reported dead and many others injured, the story flooding traditional news outlets and social networks in an avalanche.  Headlines have been hijacked by the rush to figure it out, not knowing what to say, scattered sentiments filled with uncertainty, anger and sadness. Celebrities have responded, Hollywood has gone on record and even President Obama has offered heartfelt condolences.  It doesn’t seem real, it shouldn’t be.  Christopher Nolan’s troubled franchise comes to an end with The Dark Knight Rises, already in the record books for many accomplishments, now forever marred by art imitating life a little too close for all our sake.

It's impossible to distance the tragic events surrounding Christopher Nolan’s second film, The Dark Knight in 2008 when co-star Heath Ledger died with today's tragedy.  There is no way to know how much of a role Ledger's death factored into the films incredible success - earning over $1 billion dollars in world-wide box office receipts, or how it might have contributed to praise, condemnation and criticism.  Nolan's first film, Batman Begins was released to much interest and curiosity in 2005 and went on to establish a lasting connection with audiences, consistently earning high marks by review aggregators Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.  People have embraced Nolan’s efforts to humanize the iconic anti-hero, to revisit his past in order to inform a more rewarding and substantive future.  Within Nolan’s most respected choices are his use of universal themes of personal triumph and development, showing characters coming to terms with loss and the impossibilities of right and wrong in the name of justice.  Nolan’sGotham City is frightening familiar, driven close to home in many ways, purposeful commentary that he could not know would become if not a mirror held up to show us our own troubled injustices then a reminder how life and art are intimately linked.  

In the wake of last night’s shooting, Warner Bros. has taken an active approach in down playing commercial concerns for more human ones, delaying the release of box office receipts and canceling press junkets, the Paris premiere and other events.  It’s hard to know what is going to happen moving forward.  The final film has been packaged with the second-widest release in history behind “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” with early figures already estimating that the film and the franchise will be the biggest commercial success in movie history.  For now it's too soon to celebrate anything, we just have to get through the days ahead.

Sources:

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/07/20/dark-knight-faces-another-tragedy/

http://www.eonline.com/news/331829/dark-knight-rises-tragedy-president-obama-celebs-react-to-colorado-shooting

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/07/dark_knight_rises_tragedy_is_t.html

http://wgna.com/mass-shooting-at-dark-night-premiere-in-colorado/