Aside from the family and friends of those who died or who were wounded or traumatized at the Century 16 Theater in Aurora early Friday morning, I'm betting no one feels worse about what happened than director Christopher Nolan. I'm not suggesting Nolan or anyone else connected with Dark Knight Rises has any responsibility for what appears to be the act of one person, a 24-year-old man wearing a gas mask and wielding weapons. Nolan made a serious and intelligent movie, and this should have been a celebratory weekend for him and everyone else connected with Dark Knight Rises, which is (and which will remain) a very good movie with a strong and forbidding vision. It's no small irony that Dark Knight Rises takes place against a backdrop of multiplying dangers and ever-present dread. It's too early to comment on what happened at the Century 16 or to pontificate about what any of it means. But there seems little question that everyone who sees Dark Knight Rises will now be looking at at the movie through an unexpected real-life lens. I've never been to the Century 16, but I've sat in many audiences in many Denver-area theaters just like it. That's what I do. And like everyone else who spends unconscionable amounts of time in movie theaters, my experience (our experiences) may not feel the same again, at least for a good long while. This is a sad and shocking morning and -- on so many levels -- an occasion for the deepest grief.
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