The Dark Knight Rises

Context, Bob:
Right so first things first this is a 2012 sequel to The Dark Knight and the third in the trilogy, which follows Batman as he's quote 'forced from his exile to save Gotham City from the brutal guerrilla terrorist Bane.' Our old friends at the BBFC gave this a 12A.

The Incident:
July 20th, 2012 was the knight of a midnight showing of the film in Aurora, Colorado. 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes entered wearing a gas mask ('tactical clothing') and opened fire in the theatre with multiple firearms, killing 12 and injuring 58. James supposedly identified himself as 'the Joker' (despite the fact he wasn't even in this film but I suppose that's besides the point) but apparently he didn't actually say this anyway. He apparently exploded 2 gas canisters and silently walked up the isle while shooting.

Some people thought this was a special effects installation as it was the international premiere and the film had just reached an action sequence involving a shoot-out, even when he threw a gas canister.

The Reaction:
In response, Warner Brothers cancelled the Paris, Mexico and Japan premieres of the film and suspended the film's marketing in Finland. A handful of TV networks stopped airing adverts for the film in America; the trailer for Gangster Squad (shown before the screening of the film) was removed due to it including a scene in which gangsters shoot submachine guns at moviegoers through the screen, similarly to what happened here and Christopher Nolan released a public statement calling the shooting 'unbearably savage'. Some of the stars of the film also released statements expressing their condolences, with Christian Bale visiting the survivors and going to the memorial.

Point here being that this sparked concern (especially with the false report of him identifying himself as 'The Joker') that the films were glorifying extreme violence. However, there is no real evidence that he referred to himself as this, his dyed hair wasn't green but red (so he did a bad job of looking like The Joker if that was what he was going for), and he had been suffering from mental health issues for a long time, being seen by a social worker and psychiatrist during childhood. Also if The Dark Knight had been rated R he still would've been able to see it as he was 21 at the time so yeah.

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