"The Dark Knight Rises": Director Christopher Nolan defends fans over review flap

Director Christopher Nolan and his wife, producer Emma Thomas, arrive at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, to promote "The Dark Knight Rises," April 24, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada. / Getty Images

(AP) LONDON - Director Christopher Nolan is defending fans irate over negative reviews of "The Dark Knight Rises."

While the final piece of Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy has gotten mostly positive reviews, a few critics, including The Associated Press' Christy Lemire, gave it a negative review. Fan response to those critics became so venomous on the review aggregator site RottenTomatoes.com that it suspended user comments late Monday.

Appearing at Wednesday's London premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises," Nolan was quick to defend fans' heated response to the reviews.

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"I think the fans are very passionate about these characters the way a lot of people are very passionate. Batman's been around for over 70 years and there's a reason for that. He has a huge appeal, so I think you know people certainly respond to the character," he said.

Nolan also weighed in on conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh's contention that the villain in the movie, Bane, was an attempt to make a disparaging link to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's former company Bain Capital.

"I'm not sure how to address something that bizarre, to be honest. I really don't have an answer for it, it's a very peculiar comment to make," he said.

Morgan Freeman, who plays Lucius Fox, called the contention "ridiculous."

"Chris wrote a fictional story that didn't have any political thoughts in mind, so it's like art or something you know, it's all in the mind of the beholder," Freeman said.

Bane has been a character in the Batman comic series for many years.

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"The Dark Knight Rises" premieres in New York

[gadfly65]

bane
n.
1. Fatal injury or ruin: "Hath some fond lover tic'd thee to thy bane?" (George Herbert).
2.
a. A cause of harm, ruin, or death: "Obedience,/Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,/Makes slaves of men" (Percy Bysshe Shelley).
b. A source of persistent annoyance or exasperation: "The spellings of foreign names are often the bane of busy copy editors" (Norm Goldstein).
3. A deadly poison.
[Middle English, destroyer, from Old English bana; see gwhen- in Indo-European roots.]

Until Mr. Limbaugh improves his vocabulary he might want to use that hole in his face only as a repository for pie.

[rwsmith29456]

"I think the fans are very passionate about these characters the way a lot of people are very passionate. Batman's been around for over 70 years and there's a reason for that. He has a huge appeal, so I think you know people certainly respond to the character," he said." That is exactly why you shouldn't assume you could just make a Batman movie and that everybody would like it.

[Wookiee-1138]

That's a dumb thing to say, even for Limbaugh.

[fredisalive]

tel the idiots to take their medication and stop watching propaganda TV and radio!