CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
Tuesday's Talker is about fandom, fanaticism, free speech, and keeping it all within reasonable boundaries. It's also about a movie. The new Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" opens Friday.
Excitement is so high, advance-sale tickets are reportedly being offered for resale at $150 on e-Bay and Craigslist.
And excitement is so high, some fans went bat crazy upon seeing negative reviews of the movie.
The film-review website "Rotten Tomatoes" shut down its user-comment section Tuesday after the fans posted irate, derogatory, and threatening remarks aimed at two critics whose reviews said the movie was a letdown.
Most reviews on the site were positive - 87 percent. And even the two negative reviews said a lot of good things about the film. But the reaction was so nasty, the Rotten Tomatoes decency police got involved.
"This comment has been removed" -- or "sorry, we couldn't find the page you're looking for" is the message-board equivalent of crime tape.
Rotten Tomatoes says it's considering a ban on comments from people who want to remain anonymous. Or it may close the comment section permanently.
Its chief editor posted his own comment today, telling each user: "don't be a (jerk). Even if you think someone else is being a (jerk)." He used a different word than jerk though.
We tried to figure out how anyone could get so wrapped up in a superhero. We went to a comic book store -- Graham Crackers Comics in the Loop. Its manager says he's seen people like that. For some fans, he says, the attachment is decades in the making.
"They've grown up with these characters, sometimes fifty years or more," Matt Streets said.
